


The Legend of Rose Hexfury - Dead Man's Quest

by infinitarisus



Series: The Legend of Rose Hexfury [3]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Absent Parents, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Blindness, Cannibalism, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Chaptered, Character Death, Depression, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Innuendo, Nightmares, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, POV Original Female Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prophecy, Prophetic Dreams, Series, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 15:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitarisus/pseuds/infinitarisus
Summary: Part 3 of the story of Rose Hexfury, the half-sister of Jack Sparrow, pupil of Tia Dalma, and daughter of Captain Teague. This is her untold story; all the times you never saw her, all the interactions she had with the characters you remember, and the impact you never knew she made.Almost a year has passed since Rose reunited with her brother, Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl's crew, adventuring across the seas in attempts to find information about the impending debt Jack will soon have to pay to Davy Jones. Rose has yearned for this adventure all her life, but finds herself met with an ultimatum as her relationship with Ben becomes ever more dysfunctional and terse. Two major deaths in her life will shake her to her core, leaving her right back where she started from. How can she cope, and where will she go from here?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, reader! To know who Rose is and how she got here, check out Parts 1 and 2, "The Perilous Prelude" and "In Search of the Black Pearl." This work covers the events of "Dead Man's Chest." 
> 
> See you on the horizon!

“Ow!” Rose responded to the sharp pain in her scalp. “Is the pulling really necessary?”

“With this mop of hair? ‘Necessary’ doesn’t begin to cover it,” Giselle stated plaintively, continuing to rake at Rose’s hair with a brush. “You want to look the part, don’t ya?”

“Aye…”

“Then,” she said, giving Rose’s head a good thwack with the brush, causing her to recoil in pain. “Learn it now: _beauty is pain!”_

Scarlett suddenly reappeared from the back of the room, setting down various powders and paints for Rose’s face. The fiery redhead took one look at the progress (or lack thereof) that Giselle had made with Rose and made a disgusted face.

“What, you think you can do better?” Giselle cried, insulted by Scarlett’s expression. “Here! _You_ try!”

“I think we’re beyond trying…” Scarlett said with a grimace. “That hair won’t cut it.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. “Unless _we_ cut it!”

“Absolutely not!” Rose said sternly. “No one is cutting my hair!” When neither Giselle nor Scarlett responded, Rose threw her arms down in despair. “Forget it! Jack or no, this disguise is never going to work. Thank you for your time ladies, but this was a mistake.”

“We’re not giving you your money back, you know,” Scarlett reminded her. “Jack paid us to make you look like a convincing lady of the night, so you might as well take what service we can provide.”

Giselle gave Scarlett a look. “But if we can’t make her look like something even a blind fella would buy, what’s the point? Let her leave and we’ll make off with the money!”

Scarlett looked as though she was about to consider this offer, but Rose quickly interrupted that thought before they could act on it. “Fine! Continue. But make it quick. If we miss the Bride Auction then this was all for nothing. And _no_ hair cutting!”

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Scarlett. “Wait a minute…a wig!” She rushed off to procure said wig from the back room. Giselle called after her, “I’ll start on her face, but don’t pick out anything too _ig-greg-e-oose!”_

Rose assumed the word that Giselle was attempting to pronounce was, “egregious,” but soon put her mind to other topics. As she felt various brushes and powderpuffs tickle her cheeks, she closed her eyes and tried to think of the day ahead.

Rose’s job that day was to serve as a distraction. They were on the island of Tortuga, where every so often, a Bride Auction would take place. These weren’t so much legitimate marriages as much as they were a bidding war between lonely pirates for female accompaniment for a night. While the town were busy at the auction, Rose’s half-brother, the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, had planned to visit and/or threaten a former “friend” who supposedly held knowledge about the location of the chest of Davy Jones.

Rose had volunteered her services willingly. The plan was for two others of Jack’s “friends” (although Rose used that term lightly, as they were more “jilted lovers” than “friends”) would help make Rose into an irresistible beauty and enter her in the auction, therefore extending the length of time that the town would be preoccupied and giving Jack more time to complete his search. This wasn’t Rose’s problem to resolve, but she still felt a strong urge to help her sibling as best as she could.

Jack was eight years Rose’s senior. They shared a father in the ever-elusive Captain Edward Teague. Teague was married to Jack’s mother and had an affair with Rose’s mother, a gypsy from France. Rose never knew her father, only meeting him briefly one time when Jack had accidentally ran into her aboard a slave ship. The only thing that had united them and proved of their relation was two pendants that were halves on their own, but whole together. Teague had given each side to Jack and Rose’s mothers, who in turn had each passed the pendant on to their children. The pendant symbolized far more than their relationship; It became a promise that one day the two would sail the seas together. Jack left Rose behind on this very island thirteen years ago to procure the ship of his dreams, the _Black Pearl._ Little did Rose know at the time that Jack had made a deal with a man Rose had always assumed was mere legend, Davy Jones. After a devastating mutiny, Jack lost the _Pearl_ to his traitorous crew and first mate Barbossa. Barbossa had also managed to convince Jack to leave Rose behind at the bayou-dwelling of a voodoo priestess named Tia Dalma, where Rose remained for the past ten years. Once she was finally free to go, Rose was reunited with a childhood friend and one of Jack’s mutineers, Ben McHenry, who had escaped Barbossa’s reign of terror across the seas. The mutineers had happened upon cursed Aztec gold, and as a result became skeletons in the moonlight. The curse was broken thanks to the help of a Governor’s daughter, a blacksmith, and Jack Sparrow himself. Jack regained the _Pearl_ and was finally reunited with Rose, but now had a looming debt to pay to Jones. If Jack could find Davy Jones’s secret chest, the source of all his power, Jack would not only be able to keep the _Pearl,_ but also live forever.

This was all Rose knew of the legend, and Jack seemed not to know much more. That was the purpose of today’s mission—reconnaissance. But as if this were not enough, Jack and his crew were in the midst of being pursued by the Royal British Navy stationed out of Port Royal, who had captured Jack but had failed to complete his death sentence. The Navy was merciless towards pirate-kind, and keeping Jack away from their wrath would certainly prove to be a challenge.

With all of this stress looming over Rose’s head, she had barely even considered her _own_ struggles. Rose was born with night blindness, and could not see in low-light. It was important for the auction to take quite a long time to give Jack the most time to succeed in his mission, but then again, if it took too much time, Rose might have lost her sense of vision as soon as night fell. Additionally, Jack had failed to cover what to do if some scallawag succeeded in buying her!

Rose was pulled from her thoughts, however, when she felt a tug on the top of her head. “Got the wig!” Scarlett had announced.

Giselle sighed. “That thing? Ugh…did I expect any less from the likes of you? Red doesn’t match her complexion!”

Rose wanted to open her eyes to examine her reflection in the looking glass, but was flicked on the nose by Giselle when she tried to do so. “I’m not done with yer eyes yet! Keep ‘em closed!”

All without seeing, she stood carefully as Giselle finished with her makeup and Scarlett finished dressing her. Once she felt a hat being placed on her head as a finishing touch, she was permitted to look at her reflection.

Rose was taken aback by what she saw. No more thick, black gypsy hair, but a wild mane of about a thousand red curls. Her father’s striking eyes that she shared with her brother were concealed by a thick layer of blue paint over her eyelids. Her cheek now donned a beauty mark. She has been stuffed into a painfully tight corset, but the resulting red dress that she could now fit into was worth it. Finally, an asymmetrical hat tied the whole look together. Giselle and Scarlett grinned at their handiwork.

“You’ll be irresistible!” Scarlett exclaimed. “They’ll want the redhead!”


	2. We Wants the Redhead

“Hello,” Rose cooed flirtatiously to the auctioneer, having stumbled her way down the cobblestone streets of Tortuga in her heeled shoes. _Smile, be charming, smile, be charming…_ she repeated over and over in her head.

“Hello, lass,” the auctioneer cried, dramatically sweeping into a large bow. “And what a lovely lady you are, indeed!”

Rose would have sneered at him were not her performance so vital to the success of Jack’s mission. So instead, she just batted her eyelashes and hid her face bashfully with her hand. At least this is what Rose _thought_ high society women did.

“And what might I assist you in, miss?” the auctioneer bellowed.

Her heart raced as she said, “I am here to sign up for the auction.”

The auctioneer eyed her up and down, looking at her in bewilderment. “Why?” he asked.

 _Oomph._ Rose felt like she had just been socked in the stomach. She hadn’t anticipated that sort of reaction “Well…” she stuttered, “I need the money!” _Bad choice._ She quickly corrected herself. “I’m orphaned and…and I have nowhere to turn. And…oh! And I don’t wish to become a woman of the night and I—“

But thankfully, the auctioneer wasn’t concerned with an honest backstory. He was out to make a profit, and with Rose, he knew he could certainly expect a profit. He took her arm and wove it through the crook of his own as he gallantly announced, “My dear, of course not! And an honest bride you shall be after tonight! What beauty! Yer sure to win a well-oft beau!”

 _And by “well-oft” you surely mean the one who has swindled the most doubloons,_ Rose thought behind her forced smile.

“Tell me,” he continued. “Is that your natural hair?”

She gulped as she lied, “Yes.”

He grinned, thrusting his gold-capped grin into her visage. “Then we’ll call you The Redhead, eh?”

Rose nodded timidly. _Yes fine! As long as I am distracting enough for Jack to get what he needs…_

He led her to the town square, bordering the river, where the auction was coming to fruition. Two rough looking men held a rope which tethered nine women together. They all appeared to be widows. There was no one there under the age of fifty. Most of them wore the remains of what looked like their former wedding gowns, and gazed sullenly at the ground. Rose suddenly realized why she would be such a commodity… She also began to panic when she realized that not only was she being tethered to the line around the waist, but she was being placed right in the middle of the women.

She tried to keep her voice calm as she asked the auctioneer, who had now begun to bark to passersby to advertise this evening’s entertainment, “Won’t I go last, as I just now joined?” She _needed_ to go last, to ensure that Jack could return in an adequate amount of time to help free her. Also, she was trapped here. She couldn’t escape anywhere at all like this if things went awry.!

The auctioneer called back to her, “No, dearie! ye cannot come too late! Elsewise how would we sell the others?”

Rose exhaled, trying to calm her nerves. The armed men had finished tying her waist to the line and had returned to their spots in the front and rear of the line. Rose looked over her shoulder at the woman behind her. She had to be over sixty, and grinned a drunken, toothless smile that made Rose recoil, so instead she tried communicated with the woman ahead of her.

“Psst!” she whispered. The woman leaned back to acknowledge her. Rose whispered again, “Why are you doing this?”

The woman snorted. “The bastard left me. What else am I gonna do?”

Rose narrowed her eyes. “Anything you wish! You’re a pirate, aren’t you?”

The woman smirked. “Me? Sail the seas? Too much effort, love. I don’t want to work to earn my keep. Work just isn’t my style.”

Rose leaned away from her. These were the strangest women she had ever encountered. The woman ahead of her turned her body around more to give Rose a good looking over. “You’re pretty, you’ll go fast,” she said in monotone. “This is my third time on the auction line, and things get quite awkward when nobody wants ye. You won’t have to worry ‘bout that.”

Suddenly, Rose wished more than ever for this day to be over. _Please, Jack,_ she prayed. _Get here quickly. I can’t afford to “go quick.”_

* * *

The auction began precisely at 6 o’clock. A few men were lingering around the auction block, mostly drunkards who had no clue where they were in relation to anything or anyone else on Earth. _This is a joke,_ Rose thought. 

Thankfully, the lack of attendance mixed with the sorry sights of the three women coming up to auction in front of Rose and her new friend took quite awhile to get through. By the time they got to the woman ahead of her, Rose could spot Cotton in the crowd. After some scanning, she spotted Marty posted by a crate. At least there were some _Pearl_ crew members scattered in the crowd. It was also then that Rose noticed the severe increase in male attendance. And not just drunkards, several merchants and captains had also surfaced.

The woman in front of Rose leaned back to her once more. “Looks like you scared up quite the crowd, Redhead!”

Rose only nodded, unable to shake the fearful expression from her face. Her eyes met Marty’s. He gave her an encouraging nod, and then her eyes began to scan the crowd again. She found Giselle and Scarlett standing by a lamppost. With a motion of her hand, Giselle reminded her to smile, and she instantly obeyed, silently reminding herself to breathe. _Where was Jack?!_

The woman before Rose came up to the front. The auctioneer cried out, “Weigh anchor now, ye swabbies! What be I offered for this winsome wench? Stout-hearted, and corn-fed she be!”

A pirate heckled from the crowd, “Hey! Be ya sellin’ her by the pound?”

The auctioneer seem unfazed, however, instructing the woman, “Shift yet cargo, dearie. Show ‘em yer larboard side.”

“We wants the redhead!” a drunken pirate slurred from somewhere on the bridge. Rose’s blood ran cold once she realized that he was talking about her.

“Allay there, you fo’c’s’le swab!” warned the auctioneer.

This call crew into a chant amongst the bidding men. “We wants the redhead!” they cried. “We wants the redhead!”

“Avast there!” a balding man sitting by the bridge yelled, firing off his weapon. This quelled the crowd for a moment, until…

“Harold?” the increasingly frustrated “bride” ahead of Rose screeched, peering into the crowd. Everyone, including Rose, followed her gaze to a small, skinny, unshaven man wearing an oversized hat standing in the rear of the group. The man quickly leapt to cover his face with the hat.

“Harold! Don’t try to hide from me!” she shouted again. “I know it’s you, you bastard!”

The man known as Harold gave up his attempts to hide. “Aww Marguerite! I’m sorry, but I moved on!”  
“Like hell you did!” Marguerite called back. “You married me!”

“A lot of people married you!”

“Yeah, but none o’ them had the gall to come back here and bid on other women!”

“I came for the redhead, Marguerite!”

Rose felt her jaw go limp. Was… _everyone_ here for her? as Marguerite pointed at Rose. “HER?!” she cried. “You honestly think you could afford HER?! Harold, I know how dirt poor you are!”

“Aww Marguerite!” he moaned. “That’s what all these blokes is doin’ here! She’s what’s the biggest news this town has had in years! I thought I’d throw my hat in for consideration!”

But sadly, Harold’s competitors did not want to hear this. A chorus of hisses and boos, along with the occasional “Go home!” or “You already have a wife! Take ‘er!” resounded from the crowd of men. Rose looked at the auctioneer and his wife, who looked like happy children at a marionette show. This was madness!

Marguerite demanded one of the guards to cut her free,and she marched up to where her husband stood, grabbing him by the ear and dragging his yelping figure stumbling down the street and around a corner into the great unknown.

 _This can’t have gone worse,_ Rose thought in a panic. Now Marguerite was gone in a flash, leaving Rose standing there, the next woman to be auctioned off. _Please, Jack! Please…_ She prayed that these men, who were supposedly all here to fight over her, would haggle and fight over a price long enough for Jack to resurface.

Her wish came true in the form of Giselle and Scarlett again, who wildly waved their arms to get her attention. When she finally saw them, Scarlett took a seductive pose, putting one arm up behind her ear and another slightly revealing her ankle. _Of course!_ Rose leaned down elegantly and picked up the end of her skirt, lifting the material and exposing her bare calf. The whistles and hoots increased to deafening proportions.

“Alright! Alright quiet down,” the auctioneer cried out over the men’s hollering. “Strike yer colours, ye brazen wench,” he called to Rose. “No need to expose your superstructure!” Rose gave a winning smile and turned for the men to see her, posing like some of the painted ladies she had seen on posters around Tortuga during her youth. “And now, ye bilge rats,” he continued, “Do I hear six? Who makes it six?”

Rose stopped listening when she looked over the crowd and saw powdered wigs staring back at her from the rear of the square. _The Navy!_ Rose felt panic start to rise in her chest. This meant that Norrington had caught up with the _Pearl!_ Where was Jack? Had they already captured him _and_ the _Pearl?_

Chanting stirred her from her trance. “We wants the Redhead! We wants the Redhead!” they called out.

 _“_ QUIET YOU SCUM!” the man by the bridge shouted once more, firing off his weapon. The noise subsided, and the bidding continued. Rose feared the worst, but had to continue with her charade, all the while keeping one eye on the Navy officers, who ogled her from their position across the bay. One man pushed his way in front of them and ordered the men to continue onwards. They all rushed down an alley leading to another part of town, but the man who gave the orders remained. He scanned the crowd. He was looking for someone!

_So they haven’t found Jack after all!_

This man was shouldering his way through the crowd, but barely anyone acknowledged him because they were still so fixated on the rapidly increasing bidding. As the officer grew nearer and nearer to the block, his eyes met Rose’s and lingered there. Rose’s expression grew earnest and she let her smile fade. He looked her up and down and sneered at her, stalking back where he came from. Instead of following the other men, Rose watched him stand posted with his hands behind his back, looking over the scene in front of him placidly. Another officer joined him. Rose gulped.

“I’m not scrounging for rum! It be gold I’m after!” she heard the auctioneer call to one of the highest bidders, who had apparently run out of money and had started instead to offer up any personal belonging he had to his name.

“Fifteen shillings!”

A horrible silence fell over the crowd. Rose realized in terror that this was the highest bid, and even worse, that no other man was willing to bid higher. She looked at her future husband, a man around the age of seventy, who, much like the woman behind Rose in line, also had little to no teeth left in his skull.

“Going once…” the auctioneer called out.

Rose looked desperately for Jack in the crowd. _Please, Jack! Where are you?_

“Going twice…”

“Oi!” a voice surfaced from the far right of the stage Rose stood upon. Rose watched triumphantly as her brother popped out from behind a cart, knocking loose several mannequins that were advertising a tailor shop. The crowd began to let loose several unsettled remarks about this new drama to the auction of “The Redhead.” Rose looked up in a panic and saw the two Navy officers hastily conversing. The one who had glared at her sent the other in the same direction the other men had gone, most likely to retrieve them. She then saw him draw his pistol and quickly make his way through the crowd toward Jack.

“Oi!” Jack cried again. “Whatever that bloke offered, double it!” The unease in the audience only magnified.

Over the outrage, the auctioneer cried out, “Thirty shillings?”

Jack shrugged. “Sure! Why not?” he then leaned around several bodies and made eye contact with the former highest bidder. “Sorry mate. A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do!” The toothless wonder just grimaced.

Jack shot a triumphant grin Rose’s direction, which was met only with a horrified expression from Rose as she quickly shook her head, trying to tell Jack to flee at once.

“Going once?” the auctioneer tried once more.

“Make that two pounds,” a dark, deep voice boomed. Another bidder! The other men were close to rioting, the noise was so intense.

Rose’s heart pounded in her chest, as she followed the men’s gazes to where they were examining this newcomer to the bidding. The officer! He had worked his way so that he stood parallel to Jack, only a few paces away. The officer glared in amusement at Jack, and Rose saw his pistol pointed subtlety right at him, his arm aligned with his Navy jacket.

The officer grinned like a cat who had just caught a mouse by the tail and was gleefully watching it try to escape his claws. “Care to outbid me?”

Jack squinched up his nose. “Meh. Not particularly.” Rose raised her eyebrows, but from a quick flick of his wrist waving her off, Rose realized that Jack was trying to divert attention off of her, and was not feeding her to the hungry cat after all.

But this motion did not go unobserved by the officer, however. He began to laugh and he looked up where Rose stood. Rose was frozen, unsure of what move to make. Letting his gun go slack in his hand for a moment, the officer mounted the steps up to the auctioning stage.

“I do believe that that’s a ‘going once, going twice, and sold’ to me, correct?”

The auctioneer smiled in confusion, still putting on the act. These pirates were not completely moronic. They knew the power a Navy official had over them. So graciously, he replied, “Of course, sir!”

He turned to Rose and stalked toward her. Rose never felt more exposed in her life. She wanted so desperately to run, but she was stuck there. His eyes still glinted in amusement as he growled, “It’s _Commodore.”_

Rose felt the air leave her lungs. _Norrington!_ The was the man responsible for this ridiculous chase! Suddenly, she very much remembered him. Back on Port Royal, his cart had nearly run her over, and would have had Elizabeth Swann, the Governor of Port Royal’s daughter not leapt out to help her. He had begrudgingly helped her up, though “helped” is still too kind a term. They had come as close to one another as they now were, reunited, though it Rose doubted that he recognized her in her current disguise.

He slowly walked up to her, letting the air grow stiff with tension. When he was mere inches from her, he caused Rose to start, for he pulled out his finely crafted sword, which glinted in the light of the square, chopping Rose free from the other women. He sheathed the sword calmly, and then he sprung, pinning Rose’s arms against her with one arm and pressing his gun against her head with the other, spinning her toward Jack. As though it was expertly rehearsed, naval officers sprang out from every direction, causing onlookers to scatter. Jack motioned for Cotton and Marty to find the _Pearl_ and alert them of danger, and they quickly scattered as well. Soon, it was just Rose and Jack amidst thirty armed officials, bayonets surrounding them on all sides.

Norrington had the side of his face pressed against Rose’s. Her body was completely rigid, and she barely dared to take even the slightest of breaths, for fear that he would pull the trigger at the smallest movement.

“So tell me, Jack,” Norrington said calmly. “What interest do _you_ of all people have in marriage?”

Jack shrugged casually. “Boredom. They say it’s always good to try new things.”

“Stop the game, Sparrow!” yelled Norrington. Jack mumbled “Captain,” under his breath, which was thankfully not overheard by Rose’s captor. He continued, “How is she involved in your schemes?”

Jack shook his head. “Never met ‘er. Seems nice enough though.” His face lit up. “But, hey! I’m happy for _you_! Glad to see you got over that uh…ooh. Whatshername…” He tapped a finger against his chin pensively, then dropped his shoulders. “No really. What _was_ her name?”

“Elizabeth. Swann,” Norrington hissed.

“That’s the one!” Jack cried happily. “Yeah that was just not meant to be, eh? But my most heartfelt congratulations for the two of you!” he said, motioning to Rose and Norrington. “You’ll be perfect for each other!”

Norrington clicked the barrel of his gun, sending waves of panic through Rose’s blood.“That change your mind, Sparrow?” he said.

Jack let the facade fall, growing far more serious now. “Really, mate. I never met her. Seems innocent enough. Let her be.”

Rose let out a yelp when Norrington took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. He pressed the end of his gun into the skin of her chest right where her heart was pounding ever quicker. “Your turn,” he said threateningly. He glanced over her head and motioned toward where her sibling stood. “How are the two of you associated?”

Rose tried to turn the charm on for one final performance. She smiled. “I don’t know him at all! That’s the idea of being sold off at a place like this.” She took a deep breath before she tried her next maneuver, leaning closer toward him and whispering, “So that any _handsome_ stranger can whisk you away.”

Just as she was about to lean completely in to him, he straightened his posture and looked over her head, pressing his gun into her chest, and therefore pushing her a safe distance away from him. “That’ll be quite enough of _that,_ ” he said nonchalantly.

He did look back down at her though, and when he did, he used his free hand to run his fingertips down the length of her cheek, catching red locks of hair as he moved. His hand travelled behind her neck and Rose suddenly felt a sharp pain in her scalp. Then her stomach dropped as she realized what he had discovered; a stray piece of her natural hair that had fallen from inside the wig.

“You know,” he said, “Red really isn’t your color.” He yanked off the wig entirely and exposed her long dark hair. He tossed it aside and smiled his smug smile. “You’re slightly less hideous without the wig.”

Rose’s stomach burned with fury. "I wonder if the same could be said for _you!"_ With her final word, Rose wrenched the pistol from Norrington's hands and pointed it directly at him. Norrington retaliated by drawing his sword.

She laughed. "What will a sword do over a pistol?"

Norrington gave a wry grin. "I don't think you want to be threatening me, Miss." She followed his certain gaze to where her brother stood behind her. In horror, she saw that all thirty or so officers had stepped inward towards Jack when she stole their commander's pistol, completely boxing him in.

"Maybe... _don't_ shoot Norrington," Jack nervously said.

In her distraction, Norrington had his blade pressed into her back. She ruefully held her hands up in surrender.

"I'll be taking _that_ back," said he, retrieving his pistol once more. "Now, since you've proven with your hasty and clumsy attempts at retaliation that you two are in fact associated, I suppose I have no choice but to declare execution for the _both_ of you."

He continued his lofty speech, but Rose had yet another plan that could distract the officers long enough for Jack to make a getaway. Feeling around her waist, she came upon the rope that had tethered her to the other brides. She swung the rope up and threw it over his neck, pulling it taught behind him and cutting off his speech.

Most of men's attention were drawn to their captured commander. Rose, upon seeing this, cried out, "Run, Jack!" Jack seized the opportunity, ducking beneath the bayonets and running for his life out of the square, dodging many bullets as he fled.

Rose grinned as she saw him flee, but did not anticipate Norrington freeing himself with his sword. Rose stumbled backwards with the sudden release of the rope's tension, but Norrington had caught the end of the rope which was still fastened around her waist, pulling her against him.

"Go! After him!" he shouted to his men, sending them rushing off in the direction Jack had fled. "Groves!" he called to one of his men.

"Aye sir?"

"Take _this_ ," he said, yanking Rose forward, "To the brig. She'll hang on the island where we first met.”

Rose looked at him in alarm. He only laughed menacingly. “You really thought I didn’t recognize you as that gutter rat I nearly ran over on Port Royal? Perhaps you _and_ Jack will hang together this time instead of being separated by my carriage.”

But Rose had already outsmarted them both, having located the knot which fastened the rope around her waist and quickly untying it. All she needed was a swift elbow to Groves's face and she was free, racing off at full speed in the opposite direction as her brother.

She heard Norrington order behind her, "She's not our priority! Sparrow is! After him!" She smiled in satisfaction, though she worried for Jack. _Meet at the ship if we're separated,_ he had said. So Rose, despite her better judgement, obeyed and threw herself into the ocean, swimming frantically to reach the _Pearl_ before sundown when her vision would dissipate.


	3. Of Truths and Lies

As she approached the speck in the distance that was the _Black Pearl_ , Rose winced with every stroke she swam. The corset that Giselle and Scarlett had stuffed her into was constricting her breathing, and she began to fumble and flail beneath the waves. Timing was everything on this leg of the journey, and this corset was standing in the way. She took a large inhale of air and let her head fall beneath the waves, then, with what little sight she had, she managed to find the black laces that held the bodice of the red dress together down the center of her torso. Once she had loosened the tie, she grabbed one end with all her might until the criss-cross pattern of the laces had been undone. The bodice then came apart at the middle revealing the corset and the white chemise beneath it. At this point, Rose’s already limited air supply had all but run out entirely, so without much thought, she grabbed a seam of the corset and tugged at it with all her might until it split apart. As soon as it did, she felt massive relief and swam to the surface to take a much needed intake of fresh air. She continued swimming for the _Pearl_ , leaving the corset bobbing on the water’s surface now behind her.

After a time, she had managed to work her way quite close to the ship, but she knew that there was no time to delay. The _Black Pearl_ was renowned for being the fastest ship in Caribbean, and it was not going to stop its progress in rescuing their Captain just for her. A line was cast, and Rose stretched out her arm to grab a hold of it with her fingertips. As soon as she did, her resistance against the water became almost too much for the muscles in her arms to bear, so it became quite necessary that she begins inching herself closer and closer to the vessel. It was a time before she managed to get close to the ship itself, wherein she hoisted herself up to grab onto the netting that clung to the sides. Once she had, it took awhile for her to scurry up the _Pearl_ and collapse in a sopping wet mess onto the deck.

Anamaria was waiting for her on the other end of the rope, and offered an outstretched hand to help her stand. Although at first she had seemed jealous that she was no longer the only woman aboard the _Pearl,_ and perhaps a little vexed that Rose was not as active on the crew as she was, the two had developed a mutual respect for one another, and Rose was glad to see her.

Her first thought was on Jack. “Things went awry. We’ve got to find Jack—“

But the words had barely escaped her mouth before Anamaria nonchalantly pointed over her shoulder to where Jack stood, leaning casually against the mast as though nothing had surpassed. Rose’s mouth fell agape as she walked over to her brother.

“…how…?”

“Improvisation, love!” he said with a grin. “Improvisation and a lot of running.” He then cast a look over his shoulder. “And that goat.”

Rose followed his gaze. Sure enough, just a few paces off stood a black and white goat casually munching on some rogue straw out of a nearby crate.

“…and… _why_ do we now have a goat?” Rose wondered aloud.

“I think the proper question is why _didn’t_ we have a goat.”

“Is the… _goat_ going to find us the key, Jack?”

He frowned. “Probably not. It’ll give us milk, however.”

Rose squinted her eyes. “Isn’t that a _male_ goat?”

Jack fell silent for a time, realizing that Rose was quite correct in that observation. Finally, he announced, “Well, then he’ll provide us company. Lord knows we need it. We’re off for Tripoli.”

With that and a flourish of his arm, Jack wandered away towards his cabin. Rose was bewildered. “Tripoli?”

She never would find out how Jack managed to outrun Norrington’s men and get back to the _Pearl_ before her, nor how the goat would materialize onboard. But before she could question Jack further, someone intervened and blocked her progress.

“We’re headed for Africa?” Ben McHenry asked, voice low with apprehension.

Rose’s mind was cluttered with everything that had just recently surpassed, and was just as confused as the rest of the crew, so all she could manage was a small shrug. “Apparently,” she stated, sidestepping her childhood friend and quickly darting into Jack’s cabin after him.

“Jack, what happened on Tortuga? What were you able to uncover?”

“Shh!” Jack hissed, holding up a finger to silence her. His eyes were fixated on his right hand, which held his compass. He had bartered for this compass from Tia Dalma ten years ago. It pointed to whatever he wanted most in the world, Rose recently discovered. His eyes remained glued to the spinning arrow, then he moved his other hand towards the direction it ultimately stopped on and placed a finger a map laid out on his desk.

“Yep,” he finally said. “Tripoli.”

“What on earth is there for us in Tripoli?” Rose asked in exasperation. “Did someone in Tortuga tell you that?”

Jack grimaced. “Eh…more or less.”

“Do explain.”

“While you were putting on quite the show, I must say, in the town square, I paid a visit to an old friend of mine.”

Rose was skeptical. “Friend?”

“Well…a colleague.”

Rose was still unconvinced.

“Fine, I may have accidentally seduced his cousin and stolen most of his fortune.”

“Jack!”

“All in good fun, I assure you! He’s…mostly forgiven me now. Or at least that’s what I assume.”

“Assume?”

“Turns out, he’s dead.”

Rose sighed. “Are you telling me I went through all of _this,_ ” she said, motioning to her now soggy and torn apart costume, “Was nearly killed by Commodore Norrington, and swam for my life all for nothing?”

Jack feigned offense. “Are you suggesting a marriage to a nobleman is _nothing_?” In response, Rose only pursed her lips in annoyance so he continued, “Well, I started asking questions, and it would appear that the bloke has a sister in Tripoli.”

“And…the sister will have information on this key?”

Jack replied under his breath, “…it’s possible.”

Rose huffed. “Honestly? Every day that passes is one day closer to Jones’s deadline!”

“I’m aware of that, thank you!”

“Are you?” Rose asked earnestly. “Because a trip to the Mediterranean takes weeks! What if we hit another dead end with this sister you speak of?”

“Worry not, love!” he replied, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “If his sister is anything like his cousin, I’m sure to get a response of _some_ sort.” Rose rolled her eyes at the obvious innuendo and remained unconvinced.

Jack seeing this, further prodded merrily, “And worst comes to worst, we’ll dress you up again and use you as a distraction, eh?”

“Absolutely not!” Rose was quick to answer, as the two of them shared laugh. Even in their merriment, however, Rose felt immense worry. The clock was ticking on Jack’s ownership of the _Pearl._ If he could procure Davy Jones’s chest, then perhaps this debt could be settled. However, only Rose had been informed of this secret Jack carried. The rest of his crew simply had to blindly trust the judgement of their captain as they sailed across the Atlantic, the Royal Navy in hot pursuit. If Jack continued with his antics, providing no payoff or explanation for his crew, Rose feared mutiny once again laid in store for Jack, and she was not about to lose the life that she had been promised over a decade ago.

* * *

Later that evening, Rose made her way by touch down to the sleeping quarters of the crew. It was already night, and Rose’s vision was completely gone. Most of the men were just settling down for the evening, so their pungent odor and conversational sounds told her that she had made her way into the proper part of the vessel. 

From the bottom of the stairs, Rose cried out, “Ben!” to alert her friend that she was waiting for him, and that at this point, he must come to her. After only a few moments, she felt him at her side. She reached out her hand towards him, and felt him take the bundle of herbs from her palm. Under Tia Dalma’s guidance, Rose had become quite the accomplished medicinal expert. Whenever they made port, Rose tried to barter or find various leaves and roots that could replenish the stock she carried on her person at all times in case of sickness or injury.

“Try these,” she said. “Crush them together into a poultice and swallow it with water.

“You really think they’ll help?” Ben asked. His voice was hoarse and shaky, as though it was taking everything he had to formulate these words. This pained Rose greatly. Ever since Ben was freed by the curse of the Aztec gold of the Isla de Muerta, something had been awry. Many of the cursed mutineers had died from previously sustained injuries to their bodies while immortal, but those who lived suddenly had to deal with the repercussions of years of mistreatment. Something had happened to Ben’s body in those days that he was paying for now, and Rose had been trying everything in her power for the past few months to heal him. Nothing worked. If this current combination she was doling out to him proved futile, Rose wasn’t certain what else she could do. On top of physical ailments, Ben was haunted by severe trauma and stress, and had fits of rage that flared up every so often. It had been quite awhile without incident, and Rose was not about to incite any fury tonight by telling him the truth, which was that she truly didn't know if this time, her herbs would cure his sickness.

So, she bravely lied with a smile on her face. “I’m sure they will.”

She heard him take a deep breath, but she couldn’t see his expression. She couldn’t stay too long in this moment, however, for a jarring voice pulled her attention away.

“Hexfury!” this voice called out. All other conversation between the men quieted to a lull. “Why do we sail for the Mediterranean?”

Rose recognized this voice. It belonged to Leech, a humorless crewman that they had picked up along with a few extra men about two weeks ago. Rose was unnerved by the question, unsure of how to reply. She finally settled on, “Master Gibbs is at the wheel right now, but I’m sure if you just wait to ask him-“

“Gibbs knows nothing more than we do,” Leech blurted again. “And you live with the Captain. Why do we sail for Tripoli, Miss Hexfury?”

Murmurs of resentment began to grow in the voices of the other men, and panic rose up inside of her. Just as she expected, the men were starting to grow uneasy with Jack’s unorthodox form of leadership.

Suddenly, Ben spoke up, “Gentlemen, Miss Hexfury knows nothing more than any of us. Leave her be.”

“Actually,” Rose said, knowing that this might be her only chance to make a positive impression on the crew, “I do know. We sail for Tripoli for boundless treasures. The Captain’s thirst cannot be quenched by the Caribbean alone. Therefore, we must expand. Gentlemen, we sail for the Mediterranean to see what other secrets she keeps. If you’ll remain patient, you’re sure to see results.”

She could hear some utterances of satisfaction at her lofty promises, but Leech remained skeptical. “And what of the Royal Navy? They are leagues away from us as we speak!”

“If we remain vigilant, there’s no chance the _Dauntless_ can outrun us,” Rose insisted. “So let’s give the days ahead our best, shall we gents?”

She left it at that, turning to make her way back up the stairs. She could feel someone following behind her. Once they had together fully made their way to the main deck, she heard Ben murmur, “That was all a ruse, wasn’t it?”

Rose took a deep breath. “Aye,” she whispered. “But what else could I say?”

“So you really don’t know why we sail for Tripoli?”

 _No,_ she thought. _I do know, but it’s not my place to share the dangers we face with anyone, not even you._ But still, once again she lied as she said, “Truly, I do not.”

“Unbelievable,” Ben growled. “Nothing at all has changed with Jack.” Earnestly, he then asked her, “Do you reckon you could try to get some information from him? As his sister and all?”

Rose’s stomach churned. “I can try,” she said. “Only insofar as you eat those herbs.”

He could feel him give a soft smile, and her heart leapt as he placed a hand on her forearm to lead her back to Jack’s cabin. “I promise.”


	4. Hexed Fury

The _Black Pearl_ and all souls aboard had been adrift a few days on their journey towards the next leg of Jack’s mission to find Davy Jones’s chest. One one of these relatively calm nights, Rose sat placidly by candlelight, fiddling with The Redhead costume. If there was one thing she took away from Tia Dalma’s lifestyle, it was that every little thing could be of some use. So Rose, although leaving behind the corset, shoes, wig and hat on Tortuga, retained the majority of the dress. She had torn out the ruffled and uncomfortable petticoats from beneath the skirt, and shortened it so that she could more easily move in combat. The bodice was rendered all but useless to her without the corset, which, although making her form more compact, rendered her nearly immobile. So, Rose resorted to using the white chemise beneath as a blouse, and was currently in the process of readjusting the former bodice into a vest. She would leave the two center pieces untied and loose at her side, and would shorten the sleeves a good deal. The task was meaningless, but she was all but useless at night given her eyesight, and it got her mind off the worry she still held for Jack’s situation.

It wasn’t long before Jack himself entered his cabin. He took a look at Rose and grumbled, “Your husband is still in pursuit.”

Rose growled, “He’s _not_ my husband and you know it! Stop saying that!”

Jack only grinned in amusement. “The man’s relentless, I’ll give him that.” He then stopped, cocking his head to the side thoughtfully. “Oh… ‘Dauntless.’ I get it now.”

Rose put down her handiwork and looked at her brother in earnest. “Indeed. And what happens when we reach Tripoli and they inevitably catch us?”

Jack narrowed his eyes. Clearly, he had not thought this through. After a moment, he opened his mouth to give a reply. Rose interrupted him before he could do so, however, “Don’t you _dare_ say ‘improvisation!’”

He deflated slightly, then came back with, “I was _going_ to say before you chimed in with your sass, madam, that I need only go ashore this time. Keep the _Pearl_ in motion, and come back for me the next morning. Easy as that.”

Rose considered this a reasonable plan, and was about to respond when a frantic knock at the door came. The siblings exchanged a glance, and silently, Rose motioned that she would answer it. She opened the door to Ben, who was hunched over and breathing heavily.

“It’s not working,” he said in between breaths. He then gagged and rushed into the black of night where Rose’s blindness couldn’t find him. She was quick on his heels, however, following him by sound and finding him leaning over the port rail, attempting to wretch into the ocean.

She calmly stood next to him as he gagged, placing a calm hand on his back. She stood there for awhile, using only her senses of sound and touch to delineate what was happening.

Finally, after the heaving had subsided, she commented, “I don’t understand. You didn’t actually throw anything up. Your body is just gagging.”

“That’s because there isn’t anything to throw up!” Ben muttered darkly. He stood quickly, causing Rose’s hand to draw back. “I can’t eat because I vomit. I can’t sleep because I can’t eat. How many of those blasted plants have you given me?”

She took a deep breath. “We’ve tried all of my herbs, Ben. All of the ones that are supposed to help anyways.”

“And some help they've been!” he scoffed. “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat…It’s like I’m back in the curse, only the effects are amplified!”

Rose reached out her hand to comfort him again. “I won’t stop searching until we find the cure, Ben. I promise.”

He knocked her hand away from him. “How long will that be? Your only priority is helping your brother and taking part in his harebrained schemes! Just forget it!”

Rose knew he was right. Ever since she and Ben had joined the crew once more, Rose had remained at her brother’s side for most of the time. She wasn’t sure if her reasons for this had to do with the task of outrunning Jones, or if she had been purposefully avoiding Ben after he had nearly attacked her a few months ago on Port Royal as they waited for Jack. Rose had almost always held affections in her heart for Ben, but she had truly been hurt by his bout of anger and found herself distrustful of him from that day onwards.

Under his breath, she heard him mutter, “I knew it was a mistake to stay aboard…”

“Ben!” Rose protested. She was peeved by his actions, but was completely devastated by his words.“You know how much I care about you! Why do you doubt me?”

She heard him sigh deeply, then softly recount his harshness towards her. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I know how much…how much you care. I just was so certain that after the curse was broken that everything would return as it was.”

She dared place her hand on Ben’s arm once more. “I know how hard this must be,” she said softly. “But I am here for you!”

She felt him stand and face her. She held her breath, unsure of what to anticipate. She nearly jumped when she suddenly felt him lean into her and kiss her. Joy welled up inside her, but quickly transformed into immense confusion as she felt him begin to kiss her harder. He pushed against her, forcing her to walk backwards until he had her pressed up against the stairs leading up to the helm. Violently he kissed her, barely allowing her time to breathe. Then, as quickly as he had begun, he stopped. He pulled away, and after a moment of tense silence, he brooded, “Nothing. I feel _nothing!_ ”

“Ben?” Rose asked, catching her breath, but from the sounds of rushed creaks along the ship’s floorboards, she could tell that he was already gone. She was left alone, blind to the night, wondering what on earth had just transpired.

“Rose?” she heard a voice say next to her.

She gulped and began to hastily straighten her hair. “How long have you been watching?” she asked Jack, who had followed the two after they left his quarters and had been watching the whole drama unfold.

“I’ve been watching this go on for over ten years now,” he said. “I’m at about my wit’s end with it.” He walked to her, taking her by the hand and leading her back inside to the light.

With her eyesight restored, she stared only at the ground, dwelling in the bittersweet emotions that were inside her.

Jack still stood at her side, staring intently at her. Finally he said, “You do see how he’s using you, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “He’s not well. This isn’t his fault.”

“Perhaps,” her brother replied, “But recall that he used you even before the curse took hold. He used you to get aboard, he used you to get status…”

“He was young then!” Rose protested.

“What other excuses will you make for him? ‘He was young,’ ‘he was cursed,’ ‘he’s not himself…’ Rose, if you honestly think he loves you, then you’re blind in more than one regard.”

Rose hadn’t heard her brother be this sincere since…she could barely remember when, it was so long ago. Even though a part of her heard the truth of his words, a larger part of her seethed in anger. “I’m doing the best I can!” she yelled. “I’m trying so hard to help you and the crew and restore Ben into the man I once knew him as! All I want is my friend back!”

Jack began to step away from her, shaking his head. “That’s not all you want. I don’t think you can fix this, Rose.” He then turned and went back to his study, leaving her standing there in her confusion. After awhile, she resorted to going to bed, but she found no solace and could not sleep.

Rose poured over what had just happened. She was so torn between fury and pity directed at Ben. In her heart though, she was still convinced that she could fix what had been broken. She would work for the rest of her life, if need be, to bring Ben back.

After about an hour of these restless thoughts, she heard Gibbs burst into the room.

“Cap’n! Apologies for intruding!”

Rose sat up in alarm. “What’s the matter?” she and Jack said nearly in unison.

“We appear to be running afoul of a hurricane, sir.”


	5. Uncertain Waters

“Bugger,” Jack muttered, eyes fixed to a large map he had spread over his cluttered desk. “Well this is unexpected, isn’t it?”

“Tis out of season, sir,” Gibbs concurred. “But it’s a hurricane by my eyes, and there’s no mistakin’ it.”

“So am I understanding correctly?” asked Rose. “We can’t proceed forward, lest we die in the eye of a hurricane, and we can’t turn backward, lest we die at the hands of the Royal Navy. So…where does that leave us?”

Jack gave an uncomfortable sneer. “Pretty dead, it would appear.”

“What if we steer clear of Tripoli altogether?” Gibbs said, pointing to the map south of where Jack had placed a cork off a rum bottle to symbolize the rapidly approaching hurricane. “We explore the West coast of Africa, keep the Commodore on the run, wait a week or more until the storm has fully dissipated before we continue on to Tripoli?”

Jack and Rose exchanged a worried glance. They both knew that Jack didn’t have a week of more to spare. They needed Jones’s chest, and they couldn’t get to that without the key. Jack had to be in Tripoli at once.

“Don’t think that’ll work, mate,” Jack finally said. “There’s got to be a way around it surely.”

“Beggin’ yer pardon, sir,” Gibbs hesitantly interjected. “But what on God’s green Earth is so important in Tripoli that we have to be there in such haste?”

Rose knew no one but her knew of the dangers Jack faced, so she chimed in with a lie. “Herbs,” she said. “There’s a…very specific kind of herb I need and I can only get it Tripoli.”

Gibbs appeared unconvinced. “And this…herb, you say, is important enough to brave a hurricane?”

Rose’s mind raced to find an explanation to satisfy him. “Scurvy,” she finally came up with.

“Scurvy?”

“Aye. Unless you want all of the teeth to fall from your skulls, it is vitally important that we get to Tripoli at once.”

Gibbs pursed his lips. “We’ve never had a problem with scurvy before…”

Rose feigned outrage. “Are you implying that I don’t know of what I speak?” In truth, Rose knew barely anything about scurvy, so in fact, she _didn’t_ know of what she spoke. “Fine, take your chances if you wish, but I for one will be going to Tripoli and will therein keep all of my teeth, thank you.”

“Oi,” Jack piped up. “Shut it, both of you. Come over here.”

Both Gibbs and Rose obeyed, peering over his shoulders at the chart. Jack moved his finger from a spot where the _Pearl_ currently was floating and motioned above and around the cork. “How’s about we head North, savvy?”

Gibbs made a low, guttural noise. “That’s heavy East India Trading Company territory. We’d land right in the middle of it.”

“Wouldn’t _that_ make Norrington’s job easier, eh?” Rose snorted. Suddenly, she noticed a faint series of lines on the map she hadn’t seen before. “Hold on…” she said, pointing to where they were drawn just south of the cork. “What about South? What do these lines mean?”

Jack and Gibbs exchanged an impressed glance. “That, my dear,” Jack said, “Would be a current.”

“Wouldn’t that mean we’d get to Tripoli faster?”

“Aye,” said Gibbs. “However, see these?” He pointed to a series of seemingly random specks lining the area around which the lines indicating the current were drawn. “Rocks. Dangerous waters for a ship as big as this.”

Jack considered this for a moment. “If we move South, we avoid Company-littered waters, steer clear of the hurricane, could potentially get to our destination faster. However, we could hit a rock and all drown.” He paused once again to think this through, then finally announced in a chipper fashion, “Splendid! I say we do it!”

“It means we need men on deck at all times,” Gibbs reasoned. “We need to keep an open eye for these rocks, and because of the storm, we’re sure to hit rough waters.”

“Aye,” Jack agreed. He turned his attention to Rose. “That means you’re staying indoors, savvy? I don’t want a repeat scenario from over a decade ago, eh?”

Rose smiled, remembering how as a young girl onboard the _Pearl,_ she had tried proving her worth to Jack’s crew by trying to help them with tasks in the middle of a storm, but instead had been pulled out to open sea. She nodded. “I won’t argue with that!”

“Very good,” Jack grinned. “Gibbs, make ready to steer Southish, then Eastish.”

As Gibbs left, concern written all over his face at the large endeavor ahead of them, Rose couldn’t help but feel a little bit of satisfaction at knowing Ben would have to be hard at work during the storm in his sickened condition. After what had just surpassed minutes ago, she felt no remorse whatsoever for him. _Serves him right,_ she thought. Perhaps this was childish, but for the moment, she cared not.

“Shame we can’t also lose the _Dauntless_ in this storm,” she then said to Jack with disappointment. “I suppose they’ll simply follow our lead.”

Jack nodded, grabbing his coat to follow Gibbs out to the deck to explain their new heading to the crew. “Eh, can’t win ‘em all. We sail on, make our way to Tripoli according to plan.” Just as he rounded the corridor to leave the room, Rose heard him cry out, “This hurricane might be the best thing that ever happened to us!”

That, as they would come to find out, was a bit of an overstatement. While the hurricane _did_ force the _Pearl_ to redirect on a route that would actually get them to their destination quicker, the storm caused massive rains and rough waters that needed to be minded all times by all able-bodied men on deck. Rose, despite her immense wanting, was not able-bodied due to her night blindness, and so she waited out the treacherous journey alone in Jack’s quarters. They endured three full days of this arduous trek, and finally when they escaped its wrath did the men have a chance to regroup and recover from the experience.

It was day. The first sunlight the _Pearl_ had seen in days. Rose awoke to find Jack nearly comatose with exhaustion, clothes still damp from the rain, fast asleep in his chair. She didn’t disturb him, and instead changed into her new attire made from the remnants of “The Redhead” facade and going out on deck to help.

Only a few haggard men were awake enough to begins repairs to the ship. Some were retying the sails, some were hammering deck planks back into place. Rose first looked back at the many miles of ocean that they had just traversed, and breathed an immense sigh of release. The _Dauntless_ was nowhere to be found, but their looming threat still remained. Unless the Commodore had been foolish enough to try following them through the storm, the Royal Navy most likely had gone the long way around the hurricane and could possibly be not far behind them once they reached Tripoli.

Rose tried to assuage her worries and began at once picking up loose pieces of broken wood, rope, or sea debris that had been washed on deck and tossing them overboard. Once she had cleared the deck the best that she could, she had a chance to look over the forecastle deck and found a weathered but unscathed Anamaria standing at the wheel, wearing Jack’s hat. Rose ascended to the deck and leaned on a nearby railing.

“You look absolutely exhausted,” Anamaria said with a sarcastic grin.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. Don’t think I relished being cooped up in a single room for three days.”

She snorted in response. “Be grateful. It was hell out here.”

“Any reason why you’re wearing my brother’s hat?” Rose asked with a wry grin. “You’re not planning a mutiny anytime soon, I hope.”

“Oh no,” Anamaria remarked, taking it off and tossing it to Rose. “Lord knows I don’t want to keep that filthy thing. It must have blown off in the storm. I found it once things had subsided, but he had already gone to rest. I was busy at the wheel, and I forgot about it until now.”

“I’m sure he’ll be missing it. Thank you,” Rose replied. Just then, a figure plopped down onto the railing at her side, causing her to start.

No matter how long he’d been there, _however_ long he’d been there…no one really knew when or how… Barbossa’s monkey, Jack, who had later been revealed to still have the Aztec curse upon him, would never cease to startle Rose with his sudden appearances.

Rose grinned and patted the mischievous little creature on the head. Then, an idea occurred to her. “Jack, smell,” she ordered, holding out the hat beneath his nose so that he could get Jack’s scent and the leather of the hat. “Now fetch it!” she cried, tossing the hat across the deck and watching the monkey skitter off to grab it.

Anamaria snorted. “You know that thing is going to yank that hat right off Jack’s head one day and send him off in a rage.”

Rose grinned. “That’s exactly my intent!”

They laughed at the prank until silence descended upon the two women. They stayed that way for awhile until Anamaria shifted. “Here,” she said, moving her body to the left but maintaining her grip on the wheel. “Take it.”

Rose gawked. “You want _me_ to take the wheel?”

“You just gonna stand there, or will you actually prove your worth, Miss ‘Cooped Up For Three Days?’” Anamaria jabbed playfully.

“I…I’ve never steered a ship before. Not even a dinghy, I’m afraid.”

Anamaria was insistent. “No better time to learn!”

Hesitantly, Rose positioned her hands on the pegs Anamaria had been holding just as she let them go. Rose’s entire body jolted leftward once the full force of the wheel was shifted from Anamaria’s arms to her own, and the ship began to tilt dramatically.

“Careful now,” warned Anamaria, who helped Rose regain her balance. “I had us turning starboard. We’ve passed the rough bits and now are heading Eastward.”

“…Directly towards the sunrise,” Rose finished, now steady. Her respect for Anamaria grew with every passing moment, as steering a vessel like the _Pearl_ was no small feat.

Anamaria continued to coach Rose through the basics of navigation, and she was eager to soak up any new information. For the better part of an hour, Rose had succeeded in keeping the ship headed directly towards their destination, making easy conversation in the meantime. Something Anamaria said was quick to alarm Rose, however.

“It’s best that you learn this now,” she had said. “Jack will need someone to cover for me once I’m gone.”

“Gone?” Rose asked. “Where are you going?”

Anamaria turned to her. “Jack stole my ship long ago. He promised me the _Interceptor_ in exchange for helping him regain the _Pearl._ Seeing as how Barbossa ensured that the _Interceptor_ became nothing more than a fiery pile of wood, I am still owed my own ship. I can’t get that here. So? I will dock at Tripoli, pick up a ship and a crew, and go about my life.”

“You’re leaving us, _now_?” Rose gaped.

“Aye. If not now, never.”

Rose scowled. “And you’re leaving me the _only_ woman onboard? How dare you!” 

Anamaria smiled, then contributed a statement that made Rose grow unsettled: “You should go as well.”

“What, aboard your ship?”

“No,” Anamaria replied. “Anywhere. Anywhere but here.”

Rose shook her head. “No, this is my _dream_. I always wanted to sail the seas with Jack and go on adventures to far off places. I’m here now doing just that.”

Anamaria raised an eyebrow. “‘Adventures.’ More like ‘errands.’ Make your own adventures. What do you need Jack for? He certainly doesn’t need you.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rose asked, growing defensive.

“I mean to say, he’s clearly found his way without _you._ What are you without Jack?”

Rose shifted uncomfortably, readjusting her grip on the wheel. “You wouldn’t understand. He’s not family to you. And besides, I couldn’t just leave Ben here.”

Anamaria groaned. “And don’t you even let me comment on _that_ matter…”

“I won’t!” Rose quipped. “I don’t want yet another lecture. I’ve gotten enough from Jack already.”

Anamaria resentfully resigned herself from the matter, saying only, “Well regardless, Jack and I are going ashore. I want you with us. See at least some of the world you’re missing by being on this boat, and _then_ evaluate if this is all worth it.”

“Jack ordered me to stay aboard, and you just taught me to steer,” Rose protested. “Don’t you want me on the wheel to ensure a quick escape if need be?”

“Cotton does just fine on the wheel, and I can persuade Jack to change his mind, I’m sure,” Anamaria grinned. She then turned and began to descend the stairs to the main deck. “Are you coming?” she called back over her shoulder to Rose.

“Where?” she said in confusion, her hands still steady on the wheel.

“To Tripoli, you fool!” Anamaria replied. “We’ve arrived.”

Rose looked ahead, and sure enough saw the faint outline of a metropolitan area nestled in between the shore and a mountainside. They had made it to Tripoli.

“Would you care to do the honors?” Anamaria asked.

Rose nodded with a smile. “Land, ho!” she cried.


	6. Tripoli

The good news about having Anamaria on your side was that there was no chance you were going to lose any fight with her support. So Jack barely even put up a fight when Anamaria insisted that Rose accompany them to Tripoli. They manned a longboat and began to descend into the ocean below when suddenly they were all startled by another figure having leapt into their boat from above.

_Ben._

“What in the bloody hell?” Jack exclaimed.

“Apologies, sir,” Ben breathlessly replied. “But I think I could be of use on this mission.”

Jack groaned. “This was supposed to have my trip alone, savvy? I let these two come along, and am not interested in a fourth member. So shoo!”

“Aye,” Anamaria chimed in. “What _use_ could you possibly be?”

“I know this land,” Ben explained. “I came here many times under Barbossa’s command. Tripoli held many fortunes for us. I know it well.”

Anamaria and Jack exchanged a glance, and through pursed lips, Jack finally said, “Alright. Come along then, as long as you keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. And _you_ get to row.”

The silence was thick between the four of them as Ben started to row the boat towards Tripoli. Rose took an oar from him and helped row out of pity, though Jack would have preferred to give Ben all of the work. Finally, the awkward atmosphere became too much for Ben, and he quietly said to Rose, “Do you reckon…”

At even the slightest utterance, Jack and Anamaria snapped their gazes, and their eyes bored into Ben’s skull. Rose couldn’t help but feel amused at their active disdain towards Ben based on his rude behavior towards her, but she made an effort to remain fixated on him. His voice trailed off at their hostile and defensive gazes, and he lowered his voice further. “Do you reckon we could try again with the herbs?”

Rose cast her eyes downwards, disappointed that this was the only matter on his mind. He continued, “That’s why Gibbs said we skirted that hurricane after all…for medicine for the crew.”

Rose saw Jack and Anamaria exchange another glance. Anamaria silently mouthed the word, “Herbs?” and Jack responded with a quick shake of his head to inform her that this was but a ruse to explain their going ashore.

Ben spoke on. “But I know you meant herbs for me. I thought I could be of service.” 

To this, Anamaria snorted, “Of service to _her_? That’d be a first.”

Ben grimaced. “I helped Rose quite a bit on Port Royal as we searched for Jack, I’ll have you know.”

“Rumor has it you also helped out the problem of Port Royal’s alcohol surplus, so thank goodness you were there,” Jack retorted.

Ben sent a swift glare to Rose, who guilty averted her gaze. She knew she shouldn’t have told Jack about Ben’s inhibitions and cruel behavior at Port Royal. Despite this, however, she still was tickled at Anamaria and Jack leaping to her defense.

Ben leaned towards her and lowered his voice even more. “All I’m saying is, whatever you need, I’m here to help.”

This boat was small, however, and the other occupants of the boat also heard Ben’s comment. Jack sent a wide-eyed look of alarm at Anamaria, and she, picking up his cue, instantly said, “Ben? Why don’t you come with me once we dock? I’ve got a mission of my own and I could use you. Jack and Rose have it covered.”

Ben sat up straighter and tensed his jaw. His rowing got steadily more forceful, and it was clear he knew that the siblings were not letting him in on a secret. Worse yet, it was now apparent that they weren’t here for herbs after all, which meant that the fruits of his arduous labor during the hurricane would reap him no personal benefits.

“I see,” he finally said after a tense moment of silence. “Very well, Anamaria,” he spat. “I shall join you, if our _Captain_ doesn’t object.”

Without missing a beat, Jack replied, “Not even one bit.”

As Anamaria grew more amused and Ben more enraged, Rose couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of dread overtake her; This was not over. Ben would soon confront her about all of this, and it had the potential to be their ugliest row yet.

Before long, the small crew arrived at one of a seemingly endless number of docks. Ben and Rose were careful to navigate amongst the copious amounts of towering ships that surrounded them, whose crews were moving many crates of livestock and other goods. Rose had never seen so many colors in all her life, and was instantly enamored by the unfamiliarity of this place. She had never seen clothing or buildings like this before, and her ears danced among the many passing languages she couldn’t understand.

They eventually found a place to tie the boat to, and Jack warned her to commit its location to memory in case she had to make a quick run back to the _Pearl_ without him. That thought terrified her, but still she complied as to be better safe than sorry if that time ever came.

“I suppose this is it,” Anamaria then announced.

Rose winced, deeply saddened at the thought of perhaps never seeing her friend again. She pulled her in for a quick embrace. “Thank you for everything,” she said.

Anamaria gave her an earnest look. “I meant what I said; See the world and all its dangers. There’s more for you out there than you know.” She then turned to Jack. “Don’t think this means you’re off the hook, Sparrow,” she teased. “You still owe me a ship for my armada.”

“Armada?! Bloody hell… Dreaming terribly big, aren’t we?”

She grinned. “I know what I want, unlike _some_.”

Rose clearly knew that this was another playful jab between the old friends, but Jack seemed bothered by her comment and did not return her smile. Rose made a mental note to ask him about this at a later time.

“Well,” he said, shaking off the awkward exchange, “I suppose I’ll see you again the next time I’m in trouble, then?”

“Most assuredly,” Anamaria smiled. “Farewell, Jack.”

She then turned from them and began to walk the length of the shoreline dock in search of a decent vessel to commandeer. “Come, Ben,” she called over her shoulder. Wordlessly, he turned with a glare and a sigh and marched resentfully behind her.

Together, Rose and Jack watched them until they had walked out of sight. “Well,” Jack said. “Maybe I should have kept him around for this leg of the journey after all. His attitude makes even this sweltering heat bone-chillingly cold.” Rose rolled her eyes and gave a reluctant nod in agreement. “Come along then,” he announced, pulling out his compass. “It’s time to find Sah Muhsine.” 

* * *

“Now when we enter her stateroom, it is important that you stay silent,” Jack was explaining as they walked along the many winding streets of Tripoli. “Just follow my lead. We don’t know what Sah Muhsine knows about the key or the chest. And just as in Tortuga, when I say run, you run, savvy?” When Rose stayed silent, he turned his gaze from his compass’s arrow to her. “Oi!”

“Sorry!” she apologized, stirring from her daze.

Jack pursed his lips. “You look like a child watching a street performer for the first time.”

“This whole place is like that for me! I’ve never been anywhere like this before!” It was true; Rose was in awe of the sights, smells, and sounds of this place. Although a bit on edge because of its newness, Rose was equally thrilled with taking it all in. She halfway wished that she and Jack weren’t on such an important mission with such an incredibly tight time frame, for she would have loved to spend days exploring this vast city.

“It’s so amazing,” she continued, “I would see so many sorts of people enter and leave the tavern, day in and day out on Tortuga. I thought I had seen it all…but to see where some of these people actually come from! It makes our Caribbean seem so small.”

Jack nodded. “Aye, love. There’s a large ocean out there, and plenty of pirates to fill ‘er. _Too_ many, at times. However, try to reign it in a bit, this is important.”

“Aye, sorry,” she quickly apologized, now focused on Jack’s instructions.

“When we enter, let me do the talking. I’ll only toss you into the fray if necessary. These people are not to be trifled with, so—“

“Is that why you trifled with their cousin?”

Jack rolled his eyes and gave a sidelong glance at her. “Darling, I know I may seem perfect most of the time, but even I have my lapses in judgement.”

Rose chuckled as they continued on their way. Soon, the marketplace devolved into winding side streets, until ultimately the siblings found themselves in dark, narrow alleyways.

“Jack, are you absolutely _certain_ that this is the way?” she finally asked.

“The compass never lies, my dear sister, and I want that ruddy key.”

Finally, one alley opened up to a large courtyard with ornate drapery and tile walls adorning a pristine looking fortress of a building. Outside stood two armed guards, who drew their swords upon seeing Jack and Rose enter.

“Whoa, whoa!” Jack said, throwing up his hands in surrender. Rose quickly followed suit. “I come to meet with Sah Muhsine, eh? Tell her Captain Sparrow wishes to see her.”

The guards looked at each other in confusion. “Who?” one replied.

Jack pinched up his face. “Captain Jack Sparrow.”

The guards only blinked in response, faces blank.

“Captain of the infamous _Black Pearl?_ ”

Still no response.

Jack finally sighed in resignation. In monotone, he said, “Pickles?”

At this, the guards cried, “Oh!” in recognition, then burst into laughter. When they finally got ahold of themselves, one stayed guarding them while the other walked into the building to ask Sah Muhsine, presumably, for her permission for their entry.

“Pickles?” Rose asked through gritted teeth, her hands still frozen in surrender.

“An incident with a barrel of pickles that I’m not proud of. Remind me to tell you later,” he muttered in response.

Just then, the other guard returned, and with a wave of his hand and another chuckle under his breath of, “Pickles…” Rose and Jack were escorted into the stateroom of Sah Muhsine. The interior was even more ornate than the exterior, and large embroidered pillows, and finely dyed, hand woven cloth took up the majority of the space.

In the middle of this area sat the woman in question, dressed entirely in purple and seated on an equally ornate chair flanked by two more guards on either side of her. She held the air of royalty and had the expression of a woman who could outwit a thousand men ten times stronger than she. Rose was instantly intimidated by her piercing eyes, and was grateful Jack seemed unfazed by this entire scene.

Jack fell into a gallant bow, and Rose followed suit. He cried, “‘Allo, your royal Pasta.”

Rose looked over at him in horror. _Pasta?!_

“ _Pasha!_ ” Sah Muhsine hissed in response. “And that is _not_ my title. I am mother to our Pasha and am standing in for him until he returns from voyage.”

“Apologies, madam,” Rose instantly replied. “We’re foreigners and know not of your customs.”

“Speak for yourself,” the woman sneered. “This man,” she said, pointing at Jack, “Knows our customs all too well.” When Jack only smiled uncomfortably in response, she said simply, “You seduced my cousin.”

“…a little bit,” Jack deflected.

“She was due to be married to a man who would have brought our family much repute. Then she spends a night with _you_ and none of us have seen her since!”

“…apparently _my_ repute was better.”

“Jack!” Rose growled.

“What is your purpose here, Sparrow?” Sah Muhsine demanded. 

Jack straightened up, ready to state his case. “Well, I first went to see your brother in Tortuga, but found him well…rather indisposed.”

“Dead,” the noblewoman corrected him. “Yes, I am aware. What further business had you with him?”

Jack shrugged, walking closer towards her. As though the guards were not a problem at all, he made his way toward the guard on her left side and casually leaned his full weight on the guard’s shoulder. “No business, really. Just wanted to catch up with old friends.”

Sah Muhsine raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I know you, Sparrow. It’s _always_ business, and rare is it that you have friends. Certainly not Hadim.”

Jack feigned hurt. “Not Hadim? After all we went through?”

Sah Muhsine now rose to her feet in rage. “You nearly singlehandedly destroyed the Barbary pirates’ accord with the Ottoman Empire, which Hadim and I had to repair singlehandedly. I’m _still_ working to undo the damage you have done! So I state again, what is your purpose here? Or should I just send you to the Turkish prisons now?”

Rose’s eyes grew wide as she saw Jack quickly recoil off the left guard’s shoulder and put his hands up in a calm surrender once more. “I merely seek the key Hadim knew so much about.”

At this, Sah Muhsine raised her eyebrow again. “Ah, another treasure hunt. Of course that is your purpose here.” She turned away, waving a dismissive hand up at him. Her guards then began to move towards Rose and Jack to escort them out.

“Wait!” Rose cried out instinctively. “This is far more important than just a treasure hunt! Lives are at stake!”

Sah Muhsine then looked at her, her eyes pouring into Rose’s. Rose then caught Jack’s expression, which read as, _What did I say about saying nothing, you fool?_

“Lives? Explain.” Sah Muhsine said with interest.

“Certainly,” Jack began. In but a moment of reflection, Jack quickly wove a tapestry of lies that even Rose was astonished that he was able to formulate in such haste. “This is my dear cousin…Roselyn.”

“Cousin?”

“Aye, and much like your cousin who I so egregiously robbed of her dignity and reputation,” Jack elocuted, putting an arm around her shoulders, “My cousin has too been robbed by a horrible man.”

Sah Muhsine looked at Rose “Is that so?”

“Aye,” Rose replied, putting on a saddened demeanor.

“Truth is,” Jack said, once again approaching the throne and taking a seat on one of its arms by Sah Muhsine’s side, “Once I found out about her woes, I drew parallels to the wrongs I did to you and Hadim and good ole…whasshername.”

“Dilara.” Sah Muhsine growled.

“That’s it! Dilara! I got to thinking, ‘How can I help my dear, sweet cousin Roselyn?’ And in drawing comparisons betwixt you lot, it occurred to me to inquire about the treasures of that chest Hadim knew so well. I merely want the treasures from this chest to free Roselyn.”

Sah Muhsine was now enraptured with Jack’s story. “Free her from what?”

“A brutish man,” Jack replied, looking down at her. “This man is a cold-hearted and vain. She had no choice but to marry him.”  
“Was she promised to him?”

“Not even that! She was…” Jack leaned close to her ear and said in a loud whisper, “Sold in a Bride Auction!”

Sah Muhsine gasped, and Rose only sighed and rolled her eyes. It was clear that Jack was never going to let her live this down.

“It’s true,” Jack lamented, standing and walking to Rose’s side once more. “She was destitute, but still wanted to make an honest woman of herself. But no man could afford her price, and she wasn’t willing to settle for anything less than quality. However, this meant that the only bloke who could afford her was a rotten beast from the depths of hell itself who wears the worst wigs you’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Rose tried to continue with the sad act, but couldn’t mask her annoyance at Jack’s story. “And what’s worse, Sah, is that this bloke despises our kind. He’d end us _all_ if it were up to him, and he vowed to start with his wife. The inhumanity!”

Sah Muhsine laid a hand over her mouth. Jack’s story was actually working!

“So,” he finished, “I come here to implore you, your royalness, to forgive me for my prior sins against you and your kin, and let me help mine. Whatever treasures this chest may hold, let me use at least _some_ of it to free my sister.”

Sah Mushine furrowed her brow. “Sister?”

“Uh-cousin. Slip of the tongue.”

The woman thankfully waved off this slip up and sat straighter. “Hadim spoke of this chest often, though I knew not of what treasures it holds. It was intended for Pirate Lord Captain Ammand’s use, and Hadim planted information about the key with a criminal named Eddad not far from here in the Turkish prisons. I am not certain if Ammand ever arrived to claim this information, or if Eddad has survived this long. I personally hold no interest in this chest, nor its contents.”

Rose and Jack exchanged a silent, hopeful look. This was actually working!

“However,” Sah Muhsine said with a glower. “You still remain the pickled scourge of my city, Jack Sparrow, and for that I hereby arrest you and am sending you to the Turkish Prisons. Guards!”

“No!” Rose cried, but to no avail. The armed guards drew their weapons and grabbed hold of both of Jack’s arms.

“And!” Sah Muhsine cried out over the commotion, “It would be a shame if you were to meet Eddad while there and then make your escape with the information you seek.” She then winked and gave a small smile to Rose. “Take him away,” she then ordered.

As Jack was dragged past her with a gleeful smile on his face, he squeaked out, “Save me.”

Rose nodded in corroboration, then curtseyed to Sah Muhsine. “I cannot thank you enough, your highness!”

“Go,” she replied simply, still retaining her warm smile amidst her powerful aura.

Rose obeyed, and raced back to the docks. It was time to sail to Turkey.


	7. Getting Away from it All

Rose maneuvered through the busy streets of Tripoli towards docks as fast as her legs would carry her. She dodged overloaded carts, dove beneath cloth canopies, and nearly careened into several merchants and their wares, but ultimately made it unscathed back to the docks, right back to where her boat…should have been tied up.

Rose looked around in alarm. There was only one boat here, and it was being loaded by two locals. Rose took another look around as some of the other nearby docks, but clearly recalled tying off the boat to this particular dock. All of a sudden she realized who primarily operated this port—pirates. These men were stealing her boat.

Instantly, Rose’s hand quivered over her cutlass. There was only one thing to do; Defend what was hers. With Jack’s random fighting maneuvers racing through her mind, she marched straight for the men. They both looked up at her as she approached, sword drawn, then turned to each other and laughed. They then proceeded to taunt her in a language she couldn’t understand.

“Step away from the boat, gentlemen,” Rose ordered, although she knew that her language was probably lost on them.

The men _did_ step away from the boat. However, this meant them drawing swords of their own and coming straight for her on the dock.

“Alright, if that’s the way it’s going to be…” Rose whispered. She made the first swipe, then quickly dodged both of their swords as they came slicing down towards her. She wasn’t so much good at fighting as she was dodging, and she made it look like an art. Whereas the men’s moves were largely offensive, hers were defensive. At one point, she blocked both blades with hers, and was able to duck down and kick one man in the shin. A dirty move, but at this moment, Rose cared not for honest fight etiquette; She had her brother to rescue…again. This kick allowed her to push the man into the seawater below them, then turn and swipe at the other man until he lost his balance off the dock on the opposite side. Rose then leapt into the boat and made off with the loot they had already managed to pack aboard.

By this point, the first man she had shoved off the deck had regained his bearings, had swum straight to the boat and was now attempting to topple the boat over with Rose inside of it. She grabbed an oar and knocked him upside the head, then rowed harder then she had ever rowed in her life. Finally, she realized that the cargo was slowing her escape, then stopped rowing to toss it overboard without a second thought. Even this temporary pause, however, allowed enough time for these men and a few colleagues of theirs to commandeer more boats and dinghies and make their way quickly towards her. These fellows no longer cared about her tiny boat, nor regaining the cargo that Rose had thrown to the depths. These men were now out for revenge on _her,_ and their boats had the power of several people, not just one, and so Rose was quickly losing the distance she had managed to make at the start of her getaway. To make matters worse, the _Pearl_ was nowhere in sight, so she was rowing blindly without much of a destination into open ocean.

A shadow soon fell upon Rose as she rowed with all her might away from the boats who grew ever closer. Rose glanced up and felt her stomach drop when she saw that a mighty ship was about to run her down. Somehow, these men had employed a massive vessel to impede her progress. This fight was most certainly going to end in her doom, but still she endured despite the odds. She _had_ to get back to the _Pearl;_ It was the only chance of Jack being saved from the Turkish Prison!

Rose nearly leapt out of the boat in alarm when the end of a rope fell seemingly out of the heavens and across the boat. She looked up to see that it had come from the deck of the ship flanking her starboard side.

“ROSE!” she heard Ben cry from above. “Grab hold and leave the boat!”

Rose sighed in relief and eagerly obeyed, securing the rope around her waist and grabbing onto it tightly. Suddenly, the rope jerked and sent her careening upwards and onto the deck, just as the first shots her fired right where she would have been sitting just moments earlier.

Now safe on deck and out of range of the attackers’ pistols, Rose toppled onto the main deck and loosened her rope harness. Only upon being helped to her feet by Ben did she see a crew of completely unfamiliar faces and Anamaria, standing at her usual place at the quarter deck. Rose rushed up to her side.

“Thanks for the rescue!” she cried.

“No Jack?” Anamaria asked, spinning the wheel madly to turn out of the Tripoli harbor. “SLACK THE WINDWARD BRACE AND SLEET, YOU MANGY BILGE RATS!” she then shouted to the men on deck, who were rapidly scurrying to and fro to complete her orders.

“No,” Rose replied to both Ben and Anamaria. “I must get the _Pearl_ to Turkey.”

“Turkey?” Ben asked.

“It’s not far from here. He was arrested.”

Anamaria snorted. “Typical. Looks like Jack needed rescuing from me even sooner than he anticipated.”

Rose grinned. “Will you help us? You’ve got a hold of an impressive ship and crew. And so soon, too!”

Anamaria smiled sadly. “My guidance ends here, I’m afraid. I’ll get you and Ben back to the _Pearl_ , but then I’m off. I only got this ship with lofty promises of riches beyond anything they’ve ever seen. I intend to keep that promise, unlike certain _others_ I could mention…”

She was clearly referencing Jack’s less-than-quality leadership skills, but Rose waved it off. “I’m thankful even for that much, Anamaria. I am extremely indebted to you.”

Anamaria nodded, her eyes still distant, as her mind was racing with more commands to make her steady escape from Tripoli. “You and Ben grab a rope and be ready to swing. We’re coming on the _Pearl_ now, and I don’t intend to slow my pace.”

Those were the last words Rose and Anamaria would ever say to each other, as Anamaria indeed didn't slow for them. Ben and Rose swung individually onto the _Pearl_ ’s deck, and even then Ben almost fell headfirst into the ocean below. Once safely aboard, Rose only barely got a chance to wave a goodbye to Anamaria, which was returned with a smile as her ship quickly fled into the horizon.

By this time, it was almost dusk, and Rose’s eyesight was beginning to fade for the night. She took Gibbs and Ben to Jack’s quarters and mapped out a route to get to the Turkish prisons. They would be able to make the journey in three days, which would also allow Jack enough time to get to the prison and find Eddad, Rose thought. As plans progressed, Rose felt elation despite the danger Jack was still very much in— _this_ was the pirate’s life, and it suited her well.

* * *

The _Pearl_ had arrived in the harbor bordering the Turkish Prison, which was a large, oblong building that stood precariously on a rocky bluff overlooking the sea, a day late. Storms had hit the area, and Rose was terrified that this delay had caused only more troubles for Jack. In order to appease the crew and convince them that their captain was not an imbecile incapable of going a few months without capture, Rose lied, telling them all that Jack was in the prison in search of valuable riches. This wasn’t entirely untrue, but she kept her story vague enough so that it could be interpreted in a variety of ways. The crew ultimately decided to wait out the night in the harbor and see what daybreak brought. With the winds and choppy waters, attacking the prison would prove ineffective, as the prison’s cannons would be stationary, stable, and far more precise than any of the _Pearl_ ’s. It was pointless trying to break in to the prison in this weather. They would assess their options in the daylight, then potentially make their attack the following evening. 

Rose sat in Jack’s chair feeling rather unsettled at all of this, and was trying very hard to not let worry overtake her. She knew she should get sleep for a clear head in the morning, but she was too restless to do so. Suddenly, Rose looked up to find that Ben had entered the room. He had a sheepish look on his face, and had his hands folded in front of him.

“Apologies,” he muttered. “I’m…well… _many_ apologies are in order, I’m afraid.” He waited for Rose to acknowledge this, but she only raised her eyebrows and leaned forward in interest. He continued, “I…lashed out, that night on the main deck when I was sick. I had been drinking a bit and I shouldn’t have treated you so.” After a moment, he hesitantly asked, “We could try again with medicine, yes?”

 _He’s only apologizing so I keep helping him,_ thought Rose. _“_ Sorry, I don’t have any,” she replied, expressionless.

He walked closer to her. “Look, Rose, said I’m sorry.”

But Rose felt used. Jack’s words of concern had started to take root in her mind, and she began to also find it oddly convenient that he would only ever make himself available to her whenever he was either incredibly lonesome or saw a means to get ahead. Rose didn’t know how to vocalize these thoughts aloud, however, so she instead stated, “Saying that you’re sorry and showing it are two separate things.”

Ben’s expression changed as she said this. He approached her slowly, kneeling down beside her chair and placing a hand atop hers. He then grew very close to her face. Rose saw lust in his eyes, just as she had seen the night they had reunited unknowingly on Shipwreck Island, as he said, “I know a way I can show it.”

This led to him kissing her. And Rose once again was thrust into an emotional battle as part of her adamantly wanted him to stop so he wouldn’t reap the benefits of his outlandish behavior, while another part of her surrendered to the exhilaration she felt at his touch. This battle raged as he led her into a standing position and began backing her up against a wall.

He began kissing her neck. Breathless, Rose asked, “But you said just the other day that you felt nothing when you were with me…”

“Shh,” he whispered. He then kissed her more passionately and held her closer than he ever had before. All thoughts stopped for Rose as raw instinct took over, and it stayed that way for a time until Rose heard him ask her seductively, “Will _that_ apology do?”

Rose immediately snapped back into her logical mind. “…do for what?” she asked, enraged. Ben looked bewildered, brow furrowed in confusion, but suddenly Rose understood. She pushed him away from her. “You thought I was being coy? Do you really think me so base? I don’t have anything more to give you, Ben! You think that I would withhold medicine from you for my own purposes?”

“What do you mean?” he asked incredulously. “That’s it?!”

Her mouth fell agape in shock. “Unbelievable. You didn’t even come here tonight out of love. Once _again_ you only came here to use me for my services. For _all_ of my services!”

“You’re honestly telling me that that’s all you’re willing to do for me?” he spat. “After all that time in that blasted bayou, that witch didn’t teach you _anything_ more useful?”

“How dare you. Why are you this way? You blame the drink, but I can clearly see this is just _you.”_

 _“_ I’m in hell, Rose. It’s because of you I ever met the curse in the first place, and even still the aftereffects remain a prevalent force in my life. I can’t shake it and yet you _still_ do nothing to help me!”

Rose ran her hands through her hair in exasperation. “I don’t know what else to do, Ben! I’m trying, but you must be patient!”

“I don’t see you putting Jack’s needs by the wayside. You’re something else! You feign love for me. If you really loved me, you’d place me, _my_ health and _my_ safety as a priority.”

Shaking in anger, Rose glared at him. “If _you_ really loved me, you wouldn’t use me so! What happened to you? This is not the Ben I knew!”

Ben slammed his hands against the wall, causing Rose to start. After a moment, he muttered, “The Ben you knew died. He’s gone somewhere on the Isla de Muerta, killed off by the Aztec curse.Blast the day I ever got onboard this bloody vessel!”

“Go ahead, say it,” Rose laughed bitterly. “Blame me like you said in your rage on Port Royal. If I’m so horrible, then why did you agree to help me find Jack? Why didn’t you stay behind on Port Royal after you said you were going to? All the times I was willing to voyage where you wouldn’t go, still you joined me. Why?”

Ben said nothing, and only brooded, his eyes to the ground.   
“WHY?” she cried.

“Because I couldn’t stand being left alone again!” Rose stood straighter, her jaw tight. He continued,“It’s…it’s been too bloody long of this. I’ve had a mind several times to say, ‘Blast it all’ and go ashore for good. But…for some reason, I can’t let myself start all over again. I can’t do it alone.” Defeated, he looked up at her. “And you’ve made it perfectly clear you’re not leaving Jack…”

“No. And _especially_ not now, I’m not,” she replied through gritted teeth. “How could you ever expect me to give everything up for someone who treats me so cruelly?”

Ben had no answer for her. Honestly, no answer would have sufficed. Rose pointed to the door and ordered him to leave her. He obeyed without protest, and once she heard the click of the door shut, she collapsed back into her brother’s chair. What _had_ happened to the Ben she knew? There were flashes of the sweet boy she knew from her childhood still inside of him, so she knew he wasn’t entirely gone for good. But could she ever find a way to bring that part of him back to the forefront. And even more importantly, was it even worth it?

Rose rested her head against the back of the upholstered chair and closed her eyes, which were now heavy from exhaustion and deep unrest. One thing Ben said absolutely could not be refuted; He was not a priority. Jack was and would forever remain her foremost priority between the two. And right now, she needed to rest to ensure a clear head to plan out his safe return.

* * *

Nightmares were nothing foreign to Rose. She had grown to accept their constant appearances during the course of her sleep, though never would she quite get used to them. One recurring nightmare had started to become more and more frequent in her dreams, much to her bewilderment; It was the dream where she would be running as fast as she could away from some unknown danger into the arms of a man whose face she could not make out. The man would hold her, then betray her by thrusting her into a pit where she would wake up upon making contact with the ground. Recently, however, the dream grew longer. There were times when Rose would not wake upon hitting the ground, and instead bathe in the immense pain that surrounded her broken body. Another man would then appear out of the shadows and begin to slowly piece her back together, though she too could not make out his face. 

Tonight however, the nightmare caused Rose to wake in a panicked sweat even before the first man had thrust her into the pit. Rose finally saw the man who made the betrayal; His face was Ben’s.

As she struggled to catch her breath, she was greeted to the sound of a great commotion on deck. Sleepily, she stumbled to the door, assuming that she had slept the duration of the night. When she opened the door, however, she couldn’t see a thing. It was still the same night, and she had only been asleep a few hours at most.

She waited at the door to see what the commotion was about. Her heart raced when she heard Jack’s voice. “Set sail in a generalllllllll…that way direction!” She then grimaced. Jack had sent his crew on a mission halfway around the world with little to no payoff, and now was demonstrating his typical, devil-may-care attitude. She only prayed that this trip had been worth the effort.

“Go on! Snap to and make sail! You know how these things work!” he called out. She then heard him approach the doorway where she stood.

“Shoo,” he said, motioning her inside.

“Well?” she said, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Jack held up a dirty piece of parchment with some splotched ink across it in her face. Recoiling, she took a look at it from further away and saw that this parchment depicted the shape of a key.

“That’s it?”

“‘That’s it?’ What do you mean, ‘That’s it?!’ _That,_ ” he protested, “Is nearly a week’s worth of work, only to discover that Eddad died and was about ready to be cast off to sea. A little pretending I was dead, a little being carried off to the morgue, a little getting cozy with poor ole Eddad, then using his leg as an oar, and voila! I have returned, and you lot never even fired a single cannon! Now we’re off for the Caribbean once more. _That’s_ it!”

Rose blinked. “We traveled all this way for some rotted parchment.”

Jack huffed. “Small-minded. Come now, now we know what it looks like, at least!”

“When Sah Muhsine said that Hadim gave Eddad, ‘information,’ I…I don’t know, expected more.”

“Then learn to expect less, love,” Jack retorted. “That way you’ll always be impressed with the result.”

“Jack, what good will knowing what it looks like do us if we don’t know _where_ it is?”

Jack shrugged. “At least we know all the keys that it’s _not,_ there’s that!”

Rose only shook her head in disbelief, then shuffled her way to her bed.

“Wait what’s this?” Jack asked as she got into bed. “The night’s still young, I’m alive and well, let’s celebrate!”

“The way _I’m_ choosing to celebrate is sleeping easy, Jack,” Rose said with a yawn. “Wake me when we’re back in the Caribbean.”

“That’ll be weeks away, love.”

“…like I said, wake me when we’re back in the Caribbean.”


	8. A New Beginning

However much Rose may have wanted to sleep for three weeks, she quickly readjusted back to crew life. With Anamaria’s guidance still at the front of her mind, Rose spent most days manning the wheel of the _Pearl,_ even waving off men who tried to relieve her of duty for a few hours. She loved the feel of being in control of a vessel as large as the _Black Pearl,_ and relished the feeling of her rudder turn and shift along with her, cutting through miles upon miles of open ocean.

This made the days short for Rose, which was a blessed relief from the seemingly endless nights she spent. She was constantly in limbo at night; If she slept, she was haunted by the Ben dream. If she stayed awake, she was faced with the endless darkness brought upon by her poor eyesight.

On one of these seemingly endless nights close to the end of their long journey across the Atlantic Ocean, Rose chose to forgo the nightmares and stand at the bow, breathing in the sea air and feeling the wind whip her hair straight back. Just then, she heard someone approach her from her right.

She turned her head. “Who’s there?” she asked.

“Only me,” Ben replied.

Rose’s heart fluttered. They hadn’t really spoken since their last fight, exchanging only necessary information regarding various ship operations as they worked during the day. He hadn’t asked her for any more medicine since that day, but she assumed that he was back again for that very purpose.

Instead of leaping to the defensive immediately, Rose posited a non-controversial thought that she had been wondering about for quite some time now. “Are the stars out?” she asked.

“Aye.”

She smiled up towards the sky, her eyes still searching despite the night blindness. “I’ve always wondered what they look like. They must be innumerable.”

She felt Ben shift uncomfortably. “They’re just…white dots.”

“Yes but they are patterned, they shoot across the sky, they tell sailors where they are in the world…surely they must be more than that.”

“Believe me,” he said quietly. “There are far greater wonders of the world than stars.”

She wished she could one day see them to say so herself, and she grew disheartened by Ben’s lack of a response. Not looking towards him, she stated simply, “I don’t have the herbs, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

Ben guiltily replied, “No, I know.”

“Have the pains subsided?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” he replied. “I’ve merely learned to live with them.”

They spent a time in silence until Rose grew restless. “What can I help you with then, Ben?”

“I am profoundly apologetic,” he muttered.

“As were you the last time, and the time before that and the time before that,” she interrupted. “And each time you just want something from me. So what is it this time?”

“Forgiveness,” he replied. He then gently took her by the shoulders and moved her body to face him. “I don’t know why I am the way that I am; If it’s the pain, or the drink, or a curse… But you’re the only person I have left in this world and I couldn’t stand to lose you.”

She took a deep breath before saying, “Nor I.” Taking his hands in hers, she murmured, “I do not understand how each day you fail to see how much I have always loved you.”

“I don’t know why you _would,”_ he said sadly. “After all this and yet you still try to save me.”

She smiled. “It’s because we’re fated to be together, you and I.”

“So it would seem.”

“No, I mean it. Tia Dalma told me a prophecy. She said that my fate would be joined with a dead man, and that I would mend his heart, and that he bring me great joy.” She reached out her hand gingerly until her fingertips touched his cheek, then she laid her hand on the side of his face. “It’s _you,_ Ben. I assure you, I won’t ever give up on you, but you must try to be gentle, and kind, and loving as once you were. If you’re to be my fate I would like it to at least be a pleasant one.”

He leaned in to kiss her again, but Rose pulled away. “Slowly,” she said. “Rushing things has only caused more pain in the past.”

He nodded. “May I take you somewhere tonight?”

Rose gave a small laugh in confusion. “Where could we possibly go in the middle of the night on the open ocean?”

He wrapped his arm around her and led her to the center of the deck. “We can go up.”

Ben climbed up first to relieve the watch on the crow’s nest of his duties for the night. Then, he climbed back down and guided Rose up carefully, step by step. Once they had reached the top, Rose was grateful that she couldn’t see how far up they were. He took her hand and guided her to the wooden plank flooring of the crows nest. He had laid down his coat for them to sit upon and let her lay her head on his shoulder.

“And…this is alright?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered with a smile. She felt the warmth of his body next to hers and found his hand, clasping it firmly with both of hers.

Some time passed as they moved gently together with the rocking of the ship. “…what now?” he said uncertainly.

“Here we stay,” she murmured. “Just…together. This is a first step.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I will try to make life better for us, I promise,” he whispered.

She then heard him exhale deeply, settling in to this space with her and Rose felt her eyelids grew heavy. A pit still persisted in her stomach, a never-ending tightness that refused to subside. This wasn’t over, but relief enough existed that even though there would be a long, challenging road ahead for Rose to remedy their relationship, with quite a bit of compromise on Ben’s end, this was at the very least the slightest bit of progress.

* * *

This peace didn’t last long however. 

“ALL HANDS ON DECK!! SCURRY! SCURRY, I WANT MOVEMENT!”

Jack’s voice flooded the deck, causing Rose and Ben to start and nearly fall straight out of the crow’s nest. Rose could tell by the sudden burst of ambient sounds that the rest of the crew had responded in a similar fashion, and suddenly everyone had raced up on deck in a flash.

“Ben?” Rose asked, feeling around the space.

“I’m here,” he said, already climbing out of the nest and back onto the rope ladder. “We have to go.”

“What in the blazes is going on?”

“You know as much as I do,” he replied. “Come.” He led her down to the chaos of the main deck, but then quickly darted back towards Jack’s cabin, where Rose would be safe from the rushing crew members darting to and fro, trying their best to keep up with Jack’s rapid instructions as he screamed them at the top of his lungs. “RUN! RUN AS IF THE DEVIL HIMSELF AND ITSELF WERE UPON US!”

“MCHENRY! Secure that line!” someone to their right cried out.

“Go,” Rose said to Ben. “I’m fine here.”

She felt him obey, then used her ears to find Jack. She heard him cry out in surprise by the mast.

“JACK’S HAT!” Gibbs cried out. Rose could hear all the men scurry to the far end of the deck to retrieve it, but all noise stopped when Jack protested, “No no! Leave it! …run!”

Confused, the men began to murmur amongst themselves and occupy themselves with various odd tasks, now fully awake after being so suddenly jolted from their peaceful slumber.

Rose could hear that Jack was leaning against his chamber doors only a few paces from where she was.

Gibbs was nearby. “For the love of mother and child, Jack! What’s coming after us?”

Jack hesitated. “Nothing.” he finally mumbled. With that, he suddenly sprang into a sprint, rushing past Rose and slamming the door to his cabin shut without another word.

Rose sighed, reaching her hand to feel her way back inside. Once she had successfully done so, she waited for her eyes to readjust back to the light and then made her way to where her brother sat, cowering his chair.

“What in the name of all that is good and holy did you find in that cellar, Jack?”

Jack, eyes still wide looked at her and he only said, “Rather, ‘who found me?’”


	9. The End

“Alright, let’s go over the strategy again,” Jack said for the fifth time that night.

Rose sighed. A headache was starting to form. She rubbed her fingertips against her forehead and sighed, “Alright.”

“Right. Now, if we happen to come upon the latest wreckage that Jones has dilapidated, you will remain hidden, savvy?”

“For the thirtieth time, yes!” she groaned.

He continued, taking no notice of her agitation. “Now, say that Jones…or others…were to attack, completely out of happenstance _…_ nonetheless, what do you do?”

“While you and the men fight off Jones and his crew, whether it be by sword or by ship, I retreat to the brig and sit in the corner farthest from the door, because I am fragile doll that can easily be molested,” she recited unenthusiastically.

Jack glared at her joke. “Correct,” he said, rhythmically pacing his cabin from wall to wall. “Now, what will you be wearing?”

“A corset?” she droned sarcastically, even though she knew the correct answer.

Jack gave her a sidelong glance. “Hilarious. Honestly! Answer the question.”

Rose answered in a monotone. “I will be wearing whatever clothes you’ve managed to scare up in that chest over there, and disguise myself as a man.”

Giving her another rueful sidelong glance, he muttered, “Indeed. And could you please be _more_ unhappy about the matter?”

Rose smirked. “I could, if you so wish.”

Rolling his eyes, he walked to the window overlooking the vast ocean that they had just surmounted. Rose knew that Jack probably wasn’t appreciating her blunt humor at this very stressful moment, so she followed him apologetically. His eyes were distant, as if imagining some unknown horror.

“How’s the spot?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

He blinked out of it. "Spotty," was all he responded.

"Let me see." She took his hand and unwrapped the bandage she provided. Nothing had changed since she had wrapped it and placed a poultice upon it—no lightening or darkening, no recession in swelling, no recession at _all_. "Well, it doesn't retain the qualities of a burn, because the aloe did nothing..." she murmured.

Jack sighed. “I appreciate the help, love, but this is one malady you can’t fix.”

"You haven't explained this all to me," she said, confronting him once more. "You meet a waterlogged sailor—"

"I would call him more _soggy..."_

"NEVERTHELESS," she stated firmly, "He warns you of a curse upon you…But here’s what I fail to comprehend; You said that Jones can appear anywhere when at sea. Why wouldn’t Jones come and mark you himself?”

Jack shrugged. “Dramatic effect, I presume. Keeping it all in the family by sending in Turner I suppose.”

Rose’s eyes went wide. “Did you say ‘Turner?’”

Jack grimaced. “Did I not mention that? Oh…yes, the squatter in my cellar was Bootstrap Bill Turner.”

Rose was shocked. “But he’s…” She readjusted herself, suddenly uncomfortable. “Well. Jones’s crew really _is_ composed of the dead, aren’t they?”

“Told you.”

Rose rubbed her temples, trying once again to put this all together. “So… _Bootstrap,_ I suppose, warns you that your time is up, the spot appears…and…why are we making haste to land?"

Jack had his head in his hands, "We will all be safe on land."

"By what means?"

"HIS means!"

"Jones? How could he possibly track you down? The _Pearl_ is the fastest ship in the Caribbean..." Her voice trailed off as he looked her sadly. Suddenly her heart dropped as she realized, "The _Dutchman_ is faster _,_ isn’t she?”

"Not only that," he explained. "But also heavier with ammunition, larger, higher staffed, taller, and all around slimier." He sighed and looked away. "We've been beat."

"What will land do?" Rose asked. "I mean, if the _Dutchman_ is as grand as you say, they will catch us in no time at all.”

“The black spot’s not for Jones,” Jack said, sneering. “He’s got…a large, tentacled beastie. The Kraken, he calls it. It would take it…oh, I say, maybe five minutes to devour the ship whole.”

Rose nodded slowly. “Right. Land it is, then.” Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. “Wait. Land! We could go to Tia Dalma!”

“No,” Jack said simply.

“She’s on land, and she will certainly know how to help you! I wouldn't mind returning for a visit, let her know I found you…”

Jack turned to her, “Oh I guarantee you, love, she already knows.” He sighed with exasperation, resigning to his chair in defeat. “She’s the one who told me of the _Pearl_ in the first place. She knew Jones kept her in his domain…Lord knows she knows _all_ about Jones.” Rose was slightly confused at the inflection of his knowing tone when he spoke of Tia’s conference with Jones, but he continued before she had any time to ponder it further. “She warned me of the bargain Jones would make in exchange for the _Pearl_ , and all I’ll get from going back to her is more of the same and perhaps a stern lecture. Not doing it. Besides,” he continued, “That’s why I traded Angelica for this blessed compass in the first place!” He triumphantly held up his compass and flicked it open, watching the arrow’s movement. “It points to whatever I want most, and what I want most now is…”

His voice trailed off as he watched the arrow’s motion. Rose had never known the compass to take more than a few seconds to choose a direction and stick to it, but she watched as Jack’s eyes followed the arrow’s unceasing loop and gradually narrow in frustration. He slapped the lid shut upon realizing that he was defeated; There _was_ no direction. He didn’t know what he wanted.

“Well blast the ruddy thing! I want land, that’s what I want!” he declared in fury.

Rose walked closer to him. “You want a way out,” she corrected. “You need to tell the crew. Let them help you- I’m not enough! We can’t keep this charade afloat much longer.”

Jack’s eyes were distant. She could tell that her words weren’t getting through to him, and this was all but confirmed as she heard him say, “Land. Any land. Land will make this better.”

Rose frowned. “Improvisation?” she asked in disappointment.

Jack grinned, “As always, love!”

* * *

"LAND HO!"

Rose heard it subconsciously but barely stirred. That night she had dreamt of a group of ships colliding with one another. They stood large and fierce, piled one on top of another into a large pyramid. A fire burned beneath a ship still mostly in tact in the corner. The fire must have hit gunpowder, because in an instant, there was a large explosion and the fire spread to the top of the stack. It even spread over the water towards where she stood on the bank on the opposite shore. Rose couldn't move, even as the flames lapped at her feet, grew over her legs. No, she couldn't even wake up. She was frozen in this time and this space. It would have felt incredibly real were it not for the cool, icy sensation the fire brought as it engulfed her body, like walking into the ocean not yet warmed by the sun.

She fully awoke when she heard Joshamee enter abruptly. "Captain, we found land!" Jack nearly fell out of his chair he was so startled. "Aye! Yes!" Suddenly, he stopped, getting to his feet and inspecting his compass. Not looking up, he asked, "Where exactly _are_ we?" Joshamee replied, "As I recall, sir, your directive was to find land. _Any_ land."

Suddenly Jack was full of energy. "Yes yes! It doesn't matter! Why are you bothering me with petty details? Gibbs, I need the ship beached. We grow near land as close as we can, then proceed to take a longboat to land, pull the ship up by rope. Everyone is to leave this vessel, everyone! Is that understood?"

"Everyone, sir?" Joshamee asked uncertainly.

"Did I not make myself clear?" he asked first to Gibbs and then looked to Rose for an answer. She nodded her head obediently.

"Right then,” Jack commanded. “Prepare the ship to lay anchor on land, all hands on deck!”

He swiftly marched out the door and onto the deck, Rose and Gibbs quickly on his heels. She nearly careened into him as the morning air hit them, however, when he stopped abruptly upon seeing the island they were approaching.

“Oh,” Jack said with a sneer.

“What is it?” Rose asked. “It’s land, isn’t it?”

Jack turned in confidence to her and to Gibbs. Voice low, he said, “Any… _other_ land by any chance?”

“Jack…” Rose warned with a pointed glance. The Kraken was a real threat. They didn’t have time for games.

Gibbs said in concern, “What is this place? Jack, have you…have you been here before?”

Jack’s upper lip twitched. “Do you recall that tale I told about the islanders who made me their chief?”

Gibbs put his head in his hands and groaned. “Isla de Pelegostos. This isn’t…”

“It is,” Jack replied.

“What is this?” Rose asked, having not heard this tale.

Gibbs, jaw tight, turned to her. “Jack had a run in with this-“

“ _Lovely_ group of people, I assure you,” Jack interrupted.

Gibbs tried again, “…and they live-“

“Very hospitable, respectable lives,” Jack interrupted again. To Rose, he muttered, “Fascinating culture, really. Very religious, very protective of their land, and…very impressed with me. But then again, who isn’t?”

Rose groaned. “What did you do to them?”

“Honestly, nothing!” Jack said. “A bit of sweet talking, a few months spent exalted as one of their gods, and now I’m…fairly fluent in their language. I’ve got friends in high places!”

“Then what’s the problem?” Rose asked. “We need friends right now.”

“THEY EAT PEOPLE!” Gibbs blurted in a frustrated panic.

“Hey!” Jack protested. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!”

Rose was certainly taken aback. Eating other humans was most definitely not in her moral code, but this island group had their own ways of sustaining their own lives. The trouble was that her and the crew’s own ways of life directly conflicted with these islanders.

“A bit ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire,’ eh?” Rose said through gritted teeth. “We leave one danger and go directly into another?”

“Not a problem, I don’t think,” Jack waved her off. “I know them, they _love_ me—I calmly tell them not to eat you and we just…genuinely hope that my language skills are up to par.”

Gibbs rolled his eyes and resignedly said, “I’ll…ready the crew then, I suppose.”

Although still very skeptical, Rose followed him in order to aid in what was sure to be a very arduous process.   
It took over an hour to pull the ship to shore due to low tide. All of the crew worked at it, including Rose. When the work was done, she had rope burns upon her hands. When she returned on board the vessel again whenever they would once more, she would have to remember to wrap them with herbs. Perhaps she should treat some of the crew as well when they returned…this was all given that Jones didn't find them first.

"Ben!" Rose shouted, spotting him and running through the shallow water toward him as the remaining crew members handled the ropes. He smiled when he saw her. “Feeling any better?” she asked.

"Well," he said. “No rest, but then again, _none_ of us returned to sleep after Jack’s interruption."

“Aye," Rose said demurely. She noticed the rest of the crew gathering together on the beach, and together she and Ben moved to join them.

Jack was in the middle of declaring his orders to the group. “We are dealing with indigenous folks with certain…tastes.” Rose winced at the pun. “If you see anything, stay alert, for they aren’t initially the friendliest of folks. Follow along, and stay close!”

They began to to walk into the lush foliage, Ben and Rose on the outer edge just a few paces away from where Jack was marching at the head of the crew.

"Do _you_ know where we are?" Ben whispered.

"Not quite,” she lied. “Somewhere near to Jamaica I know. Perhaps closer to the southern continent, although I can't be certain. I saw that we were headed south."

"It certainly feels southern," he said, referring to the sticky heat. He then looked at her, then handed her his canteen of rainwater. Rose silently accepted it, thinking all the while that perhaps this action was another positive sign. Maybe she was finally getting through to him. Maybe he was changing. In the middle of a deep gulp, she noticed a large mountaintop with steep cliffs that seemed incredibly steep. Rose looked ahead at Jack and the crew clearing a pathway through the deep forest and wondered how far (or high) they intended to go.

Ben interrupted her thoughts. "Do you reckon we're here to find some fresh water?" She had nearly forgotten that the crew had no idea why they were here, why they had been ordered to beach the ship, or why Jack had been acting so odd. Rose was the only one in Jack's confidence, and he wasn't even being completely candid with _her._ Rose so desperately wished to tell Ben everything, but thought it best to keep Jack's greatest fears quiet. Mutely, she replied, "Most likely."

They continued their trek fairly wordlessly, exchanging a small observation or two. Suddenly, Ben stopped her, placing his arm in front of her body. The group continued to journey on. Rose began to speak, confused, only to be quieted by Ben again. She followed his gaze to the right of the trail. Rose had no idea what he was gazing so intently at. Suddenly, she saw movement. It was a small child, camouflaged with natural paints, crouched in the underbrush, collecting what looked like roots. Ben turned slowly, his eyes meeting Rose's, and they both wordlessly darted toward the group. He led, pushing through the crew toward the front where Jack was. "Captain!" he called. Jack didn't acknowledge him until he was a few yards behind him, and by then, it was too late.

"Captain!" Ben said sharply. Jack turned, brow furrowed. “We found them."

"What?" Jack asked. Gibbs stopped instantly and motioned for the others to do the same.

Ben said between breaths, ”We saw a child, Rose and—"

He never finished that sentence. For just then, a fishing spear flew through the air and pierced open his neck. Gagging and in shock, his mouth gasped helplessly for air. He put his hand to the spear, feeling his killer as the men watched in shock. As Rose remembers it now, the moment feels like it stretched on for hours, but in reality it was so fast. There was an incredible silence when the spear first penetrated his skin. Not three seconds later, he fell to the ground, never to breathe, never to hold her again.


	10. Isla de Pelegostos

Rose screamed though she wasn't heard, for by that time, a fearsome battle cry sounded from the forest. It seemed as though the trees were attacking, for shapes the men all had assumed were inanimate suddenly sprung to life as human beings painted and camouflaged like the child Ben and Rose had just seen emerged with spears and darts flying, encircling the crew.

After Ben was hit, several more men were struck, falling to the ground, lifeless. Jack thrust his arm in front of Rose as the remaining men drew their swords and guns, firing and swinging wildly for their lives. The memory is a blur for Rose because this was the moment that life began to move at double the speed for her. She watched as Jack parried with large man, while a pirate next to her fell, a spear through his abdomen. Jack pushed away his attacker, then took the moment to examine his surroundings quickly. He found the one spot in the ambush circle that was empty, and thrust Rose forcefully into the underbrush. She was soon engulfed in green foliage, but not completely hidden. Rose looked up through the brush. "GO ROSE!" Jack yelled. She stumbled backward and tripped over a tree root. She continued to crawl backwards, hot tears and rogue branches stinging her face. Rose wanted to scream in agony and confusion. What had just happened? Why was Ben dead? What would become of the rest?

_The rest!_

Her sides heaving with grief and adrenaline, she started to crawl back silently in the opposite direction, back to the group. Maybe there was a way she could save the rest of them, if it wasn't too late already. If she could draw their attention and have them make chase after her, then perhaps the crew could get back to the ship...

Rose was nearing the ambush site. Suddenly, a shot rang out and she froze.

"EH! EH! Ka timi loozoo? Isipi!” she heard Jack cry. Rose heard several "ooh's" from the area. She neared closer, on her stomach. As she peered through the vines, she could just barely make out the scene; Jack, Joshamee, Cotton without his parrot, Marty, Leech and many of his friends remained. Ben and the other half of the men were dead on the ground. Their weapons were sheathed, as Jack held his pistol high above his head, shouting in their native tongue. “Kama lama insipi zutu, savvy?” When they didn’t reply, he continued, “Say say lo tiki tiki.”

Several looked to one another, nodding and murmuring, “Lo tiki tiki.”

The large man Jack had been fighting said something to another of his men and asked something of Jack, motioning to the crew. “I ta?" Jack said. "No no no! Fi fi say shookoo koh toh me wah say."

The man then gave orders to the group, seeming pleased. Two women escorted Jack gently into the green darkness, where they quickly disappeared. That is when Rose noticed how many indigenous people there actually were. Two grabbed each living crew member by the arms and dragged them after the women and Jack, but Gibbs was the last to be led away. Rose watched as he quickly broke the twine wrapped around the mouth of the flask he carried with him at all times and strung it out to lay over the foliage leading towards the trail where the others had disappeared. Gibbs was no fool- he knew Rose had escaped and was laying a trail for her to find them later on. Rose made a mental note of this while watching three native men carried each of the deceased, including Ben. Fresh tears formed and Rose opened her mouth, silently sobbing as he disappeared behind the others. Soon they were all gone. Quiet was once more in this part of the jungle, or so she thought. Yet there were more islanders, a thin, tall man ordering a group of ten to do something. As she observed, she saw the same child, their betrayer, telling the others a detailed account. She saw on his fingers that he counted out twenty three— exactly the number in her group. He then counted twenty two out as he talked, then showing the others that there was one more left— _Rose._ She started to hastily retreat back into the greenery, noticing that the tall man was ordering the group to stay in the area. Rose began to move back further, but the weight of her body snapped a twig, creating a sharp crack. A man standing nearest to her turned in her direction. She couldn't move. After a moment his attention went back to the group, but Rose couldn't even breathe a sign of relief, for she was still in the utmost danger.

After awhile they began to set up a trap for her. Laying a hand woven string that triggered some sort of pulley overhead, if Rose were to walk into it, she would be hoisted by her leg into the air, helpless. The orders then were given for the group to hide in the foliage for her to reappear. Her heart began to race. What if one of them stumbled upon her, _literally_. She couldn't move or they would most definitely hear her. She was stuck, and she had to take her chances and wait. But what was she waiting for? Jack might have bought some time declaring himself as chief, but the rest of the crew were almost certainly going to be killed. Rose found herself wondering if she could man a ship like the _Pearl_ by herself.

 _By herself._ She was all alone. Alone with about a dozen island people who killed the people she knew, as well as her deepest love. This couldn't be the end to her destiny. It _couldn't._

Ultimately, she decided that she was hidden enough as she relaxed her body into the moist soil. Her only comfort was that it was cool where she laid. She softly cried to herself, until the sounds of the jungle ultimately lulled her into a tormented sleep.

* * *

Rose dreamt again, only this time it was a new nightmare. Fire consumed her legs and burned hotter than she could ever imagine. Her ears began to swell with screams and yells, whooping and cries, as though people were celebrating her burning. 

All of a sudden she awoke, realizing that the cheers she was hearing were really happening. Blinking awake, she had almost hoped the entire event was a dream, but quickly remembered where she was. It took her awhile to see the Englishman, a young man, tied up in the trap that was designed for herself. He swung his sword wildly and yelled insults at them. There was something familiar about him. He flung his body towards the islanders standing in front of her and she caught a brief glimpse of his face.

_Will Turner._

Rose gasped out loud in spite of herself, and watched helplessly as a man opposite her blew a dart in Will’s throat and he went limp. His sword fell to the ground. He most assuredly was dead. Once more, fresh tears formed. They took his body down and tied him like a roast pig to a pole. Then, all twelve disappeared the same way the others did.

A fearsome anger boiled inside her. She was NOT going to be the sole survivor on this journey as she watched people around her get slaughtered and taken away. As soon as she heard their footsteps subside, Rose ran to the center of the clearing and grabbed Will's sword for protection, rushing in the same way they went. She followed the path for some time, as it made way to open air, into caverns, and back into foliage. Soon, the path was gone and a wall of leaves and vines was all there was. She started to cut through angrily, at this point careless if she lived or died.

It was no use. They must have pushed through as they ascended up the mountain, not even leaving a trace.

Rose collapsed in a heap, now sobbing uncontrollably as she had wanted to do for hours now. This wasn't fair. How could this have happened? Rose had so many plans. Every ounce of her being told her that she would spend the rest of her life with Ben. Even Tia had told her that she would marry a dead man. The only way this could possibly be was if she meant Ben, who at one time _was_ dead. But Ben _never_ felt even a third of the affection Rose felt for him. And now it was too late. He was gone forever.

Her heart was content to grieve where she sat, but what was left of her rational mind told her to go on, to keep searching. Yet she found herself walking in the direction whence she just came, back to the clearing, through the cleared jungle and back to the beach. Rose had no idea what she was going to do. Even if it was clear that no one was coming back, it was unlikely that she could get that ship out to open sea by herself. But as she approached the starboard side of the vessel, she realized why she was here. If she could get aboard and create a diversion, maybe it could buy enough time for the survivors, if there were any left, to make an escape.

* * *

Rose climbed up the side of the ship with relative ease. The tide was much higher, splashing up near half of the body. However, she was quickly disoriented by the extreme angle to which the ship was positioned. Leaning toward to starboard side, Rose walked on the elevated boards. Her tears had stopped, but she was so exhausted and overwhelmed, all emotion was void. 

Entering the crew's bunks, Rose walked through to the corner where Ben had once slept. All that remained of his life was a faulty pistol and a bundle of clothing. Wrapping his items in his hammock, Rose walked back to the edge of the back of the ship, then released the bundle into the ocean. An improper burial by many standards, but it gave her at least an ounce of closure.

She watched them sink into the ocean, lower, lower. _Lower?_ This meant that the tide was quite high now. If this kept up, the ship could easily sail away. Rose looked to the horizon, reaching into the recesses of her mind to formulate a plan. When she did so, she noticed a rowboat approaching. Quite close now, with two men aboard...two men and a dog. Suddenly a large wave tipped the contents and the soggy rowboat was pulled up on shore and the two men laughed and danced giddily about around the ship, supposing that it was abandoned. Rose ran to the brig and grabbed weapons, deciding to ambush the thieves once they were onboard. Perhaps she could arrange an agreement that the three of them together could man the ship, at least until arriving at civilization. Perhaps Rose could declare herself their captain. In spite of the anguish Rose felt, she found herself smiling. Oh, the power she suddenly found herself with. She took a seat on the larboard side of the ship, hidden behind a crate, watching the madness ensue.


	11. Return of an Old Friend

After hour two of watching the thieves fail to pull the _Pearl_ out to open sea themselves, Rose finally sheathed her sword. She was very well hidden behind the crate, and it wasn’t worth spending her energy on fighting these two men if they could spend their own getting the ship out to see. _Then_ she could declare herself their superior and the three of them could then create a diversion. Or, if they tried to fight her, she felt confident enough in her skills that she could topple them overboard just as she had with the pirates in Tripoli and man the _Pearl_ herself.

When the first of the two made it on deck, however, she realized that these men were no strangers to the _Pearl._ The man stood a few paces away from her, then popped out a wooden eye from one of his sockets to clean it. _Ragetti!_ Just as he did, however, Jack the monkey startled him by leaping onto his shoulders. Ragetti cried out in alarm and dropped the eye, sending it rolling across the deck. This sent Jack racing off after it as well and Ragetti pouncing after him.

“PULL LOOSE THE MOORING LINE,” Rose heard what was presumably Ragetti’s fried Pintel cry from the beach below.

Ragetti plaintively called back, “He’s got me eye! He won’t give it back!”

Suddenly, Rose heard the splashing of several more people approaching the ship, and she stood up from behind her crate in alarm. To get great relief, however, she saw Joshamee, Cotton, Marty, and most of the original Pearl crew begin to climb up the side of the ship and pour onto the deck. Leech and the rest of his group were gone, which sadly was probably for the best as rumors were arising of a mutiny between them. But how did the others survive? Then, Rose noticed Will, still very much alive and conversing with Gibbs on the beach below. But Rose had seen him go limp from a dart...perhaps it was just a sedative. She searched desperately for Jack—nowhere to be found. Her heart sank. But she knew she had to swallow her worst fear for the moment because there was no time. She needed to aid the existing crew at once so they could escape the island.

Just at that moment, Rose heard Jack's unmistakable voice coming from the distance. From around the mountain on the shore, she spotted Jack, running for his life with hundreds of warriors trailing him. So much relief soread through her as she yelled, "RUN!" and freed several ropes with Will's sword for the crew to climb up. The tide was far enough now, and the ship began to rock with the force of the ocean against it. The ship evened out, and they began to steer towards open sea. Joshamee ascended, and immediately saw Rose standing at the helm. "Thank heavens, child! We're saved!" he cried, grasping her shoulders. She received a similar greetings from the rest of the surviving crew, or merely sympathetic glances. Pintel and Ragetti, suddenly very uncomfortable with the appearance of the ship’s old crew, awkwardly hovered, trying to blend in with the crew as if they had always been there.Will was the last to come up with the group.

Jack, completely drenched by the ocean waves, then climbed aboard, but was immediately approached by both Joshamee and Will, and as they made their way to the forecastle deck, Rose stood back and waited. After some time of talking things through with Will, she watched Gibbs and Jack descend from the deck and make his way towards his quarters. However, he stopped upon descending the last step, making eye contact with Rose.

She began to burst into tears as soon as he saw her, and then he made a beeline straight for her and embraced her tightly.

“It’s alright,” he said soothingly. “We’re away from all of that now.”

Rose pulled away, and through staggered breaths, she said, “But…at what cost? Now we’re back on open sea, and—“

Jack put up a hand to silence her. “It’s alright. I’m charting a course for more land. I’ll figure it out, I always do.” She nodded, although this did nothing to assuage her fears. “Just, take a breath,” Jack said. “Get some air, then we can talk as much as you need, savvy?”

She nodded again, and he left her there to plan out their next move. Rose wiped away her tears, looking out towards the island that had just completely overturned her life growing smaller and smaller as they fled from it. After a time, her breathing relaxed to a regular rate once more, and she became lost in thought. This was interrupted, however, but Will.

“Pardon my interruption,” he said, “But I noticed you here and had to say hello once more. I’m glad to see that you ultimately found Jack. I don’t believe you ever told me your name…”

Rose gave a small smile, but it wasn’t enough to hide her sadness. “Rose Hexfury,” she said. “It’s good to see you alive, Will.”

Will furrowed his brow. “You’re upset. My apologies, I’ll leave you be.”

“No,” she said. “I could use the company. And,” she said, unfastening his cutlass that she had picked up from where he had dropped it on the island, “I have your sword.”

Will gratefully accepted it. “Thank you for retrieving this,” he replied, fastening it to his belt.

"That trap was set for me. It was the least I could do. And I owed you back from when you helped save me and Jack…and Ben.” His name stung as it escaped her lips.

“He…didn’t make it off the island, did he?”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears once more as she shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” he replied, leaning his forearms on the railing. They stood there for awhile in silence, until Rose finally broke it with a desperate attempt at hope. “What about you? How does Elizabeth fare?” She turned to look at him. “We saw you two together on the bluff after Jack made his escape from Port Royal. You seemed to be successful.”

Will gave a small smile at the memory, but then grew somber. “She’s in irons.”

“What?”

“Lord Beckett of the East India Trading Company is holding her as a prisoner for letting Jack go. He will keep her there unless…”

Rose finished the thought. “He has sent you to bring Jack in, is that it?”

“No actually. I need his compass.”

Fully knowing the power of the compass, Rose tried not to show concern when she lied, "That compass is broken."

"That's what they all say," said Will. "But for some reason the head of the East India Trading Company needs his compass to free myself and my fiancée."

Rose grimaced. “But…Jack needs his compass. More than ever before, in fact.”

Will shook his head. “I figured that you would say as much.” He looked up at her. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that connects you two? Why do you protect him?”

She finally conceded, letting the facade fall. “Jack’s my brother.”

“Brother?” Will looked taken aback. “I…did not expect that.”

She shrugged. “It’s true. I’m sorry I can’t help you more in your quest. I very much feel for you and Elizabeth.

Will nodded sadly. “I understand. There is hope for us yet, however.” Suddenly, he reached inside his vest pocket and procured the parchment with the drawing of the key on it. “Jack did just promise me his compass in return for finding this. Do you know anything about it?”

Rose gulped. She knew _much_ about it, but she wasn’t sure that she was at liberty to tell Jack about the chest of Davy Jones. Instead, she just shook her head.

“As I also expected,” Will replied, looking closer at it. “All Jack said was that we ‘had a need to travel upriver.’”

Rose stood straighter at this. “What?”

“Aye,” Will corroborated. “And I heard Gibbs mention a, ‘passing fancy?’ Do you know what he meant by that?”

Rose felt rage build deep inside her. “I know _precisely_ what he meant by that.”

* * *

Rose rushed back to Jack's quarters. Slamming the door behind her, she yelled, "YOU!"

Jack spun around, grabbing his coat and his compass. "Rose, let's not lose our heads!"

Rose grabbed a nearby metal plate and threw it in his direction. He ducked behind his chair and it went careening across the room, crashing against the far wall. “ _NOW_ YOU LISTEN TO ME!”

He peered over his chair. "THAT would be losing your head, wouldn’t it?”

She threw a fork. "I SAID FROM THE START THAT WE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO TIA DALMA!" She grabbed her boot and chucked it his direction, hitting the chair he cowered behind. “BUT YOU ONLY TOOK MY ADVICE ONCE IT SUITED YOU! ONCE YOU REALIZED YOU WERE WRONG. ONCE YOU HAD KILLED OFF HALF OF YOUR CREW!”

He stood upright now. "ENOUGH WITH THE THROWING!" he cried as her other boot hit his left shoulder. "STOP IT!"

Rose stood there, her hair messy and no longer tied together, barefoot and panting, completely out of breath and out of things to throw.

“Fine, alright!” he said. “You were right all along. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Rose was astonished. “You truly have no remorse, do you? Do you even realize what I have lost because of your ignorance?”

“Listen to me,” Jack said carefully, “What happened to Mr. McHenry was…regrettable. But it was a plan, nothing more. It went awry. These things happen.”   
  
“No, Jack. These things _don’t_ happen when you ask your most trusted confidante on your bloody ship for her loyalty, and then you purposefully ignore her guidance until it suits you and is far too late.” She couldn’t stop the hot tears from pouring down her cheeks once more.

Jack put his hands up in surrender again. “I’m honestly not sad to see Mr. McHenry go. He was rather horrible to you.”

“I could have changed him,” she said sadly.

Jack took a deep breath and walked closer towards her. “People don’t really change, love.”

“Everyone has the capacity for change, Jack!” she snapped. “Even someone as selfish as you!”

He looked taken aback. “Oi, if you’re not ‘me first’ in this world, then you are swindled. That’s what being a pirate is all about.”

“It’s _always_ been ‘you first.’ That’s why you never came back for me!”  
“What?”

Rose braced herself against his desk, looking up at him with an earnest grimace. “Why didn’t you return to fetch me from Tia Dalma after the mutiny? After you were on your own?”

Jack rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You’ve already asked me this and I’ve given you an answer. I—“  
  
“‘—didn’t want to fetch me until we could be reunited again on the _Pearl_ as you had promised.’ Yes, I remember. That doesn’t mean that I buy that line for a minute. Ben didn’t, and neither do I.”   
  
Jack only gave a frustrated sneer, neither confirming nor denying Rose’s position on this troubling matter. So Rose continued, “I also don’t believe that you would have come back for me once you _had_ the ship back. If Ben and I wouldn’t have found our own way aboard, I’d still be in the bayou waiting for you.”

“Oh come now…” Jack sighed.

“No! Admit that you never intended on coming back!”

“Fine!” he snapped. Rose raised her eyebrows in shock, which made him soften his tone as he explained, “Once I escaped that island Barbossa and the mutineers had left me on, I did think of you. But at the end of the day… Rose, you were a child. I needed experienced sailors who I wouldn’t have to tend to or look out for. And I knew that in the bayou you’d be safe. That was enough for me.”

Rose took a deep breath, trying to slow the pace of her heart, which felt flared in fury. “And what about when I was no longer a child, Jack? Ten years passed. Would you have come back for me after you vanquished Barbossa?”   
  
Jack took a moment, then ever so slightly shook his head no. “Not until the _Pearl_ was mine for good. At least.”

Rose gave an incredulous smile. Even though she could never be happy about this truth, she was satisfied in that she now knew, and had heard enough. As she turned to leave his quarters, she tossed one more dig at him: “I should have listened to Ben.”

Jack wasn’t finished, however. This remark set him off. “Oh, and what, lived out your days with that skinless wonder?”

Rose spun on her heel. “How dare you,” she warned.   
  
“Once a mutineer, always a mutineer, Rose. How could you forgive and forget? After how he betrayed you, betrayed me, and then continued to use you?”

“As I recall, you just allowed two of your former ‘skinless wonders’ aboard just minutes ago!”

“And I shall treat them with no less distrust than I showed McHenry.”

Rose had never seen Jack this earnest and furious. It was a side of him that she had never seen before and was certain most people had also never seen. Deep down it frightened her. Then she suddenly realized something. “You sound just like Teague,” she murmured.

The comparison to the father both Rose and Jack never truly had shook Jack to his core, and Rose could see it. She felt the slightest bit of remorse, but pushed those feelings from her heart, keeping the anger fresh and still-raging like an inferno.

Carefully, Jack spoke, keeping his voice as level as he could manage. “You’re here now. There’s no point in thinking on the past. Yes, I left you. No I didn’t return, nor would I have until it was convenient for me. Ben _is_ dead, and will not ever return, and no, I can never mourn him because I did not condone his treatment of you.” He extended his bandaged hand out to her, the same one marked with the black spot. “I need your help. There’s no one I trust as much as you, you must know that.”

But how _could_ she know that? After all of the many lies Jack had produced, how could she fully believe that when things got more problematic, and they were bound to given their current pursuit by Jones, that Jack wouldn’t find some other way to discard her?

She looked down and gave a small nod, saying quietly before she left the room, “I will be going ashore with you. I too have some guidance to seek from Tia Dalma.”


	12. Return of an Old Enemy

Rose emerged mere minutes later in her modified “Redhead” dress, having taking off and throwing overboard the clothes she had worn on the cannibal island; She wanted nothing more to do with that place, no reminder or trace in sight. Her newly fashioned belt with pistol, dagger, and herb pouch in tow hung taught around her waist and she had retrieved both of her boots. Her hair was once again tied up in its traditional fashion, and the brisk sea air played with the strands of hair that inevitably strayed from the mass. The sky was colored a pale blue on the eastern horizon as the sun prepared to surface.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a longboat being lowered into the ocean. Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, and Gibbs were already aboard. Rose walked to the railing where Will and Jack stood. Will smiled at her. "You are looking better already," he said kindly.

Jack inserted himself between the two. "William, have you met my sister, Rose?" Not waiting for an answer, he proceeded. "Will, Rose. Rose, Will. Yes, it's interesting because Will is getting _married_ ," said Jack more to Will than Rose.

Will didn't break a glance with Jack, saying, "Aye, but without that compass, I won't be marrying anyone, will I?"

Jack was unfazed. “Well, without getting in the boat, you won’t be getting _anything._ Hop-to, you.”

Rose started to climb over the railing into one of the two boats. Jack grabbed her waist to aide her, though she flinched away from his touch. As soon as she was seated opposite Gibbs, Jack climbed into the other boat with another crewman and Cotton and sat at the front of the boat. Will climbed in Rose’s boat and took a seat across from Rose.

The ropes connecting the boat to the ship were disconnected and the rowing proceeded, from which Will, Jack, Gibbs and Rose were exempted from.

"What's your name, poppet?" said the fellow next to her. She swallowed her disgust and answered back politely. “My name is Rose, Pintel.”

Pintel looked slightly confused that she knew him, but after awhile, he put the pieces of what she had said together. "Oh-ho!" he called out, nudging his friend. "Ye hear that, Ragetti? It seems to be the Cap'n's lil' sister from all those years ago! Rose _Hexfury_ , as I recall.”

Ragetti looked over at Rose. “Aye,” he sneered. “I remember! She's the witch what stole me eye!" he said, pointing to the wooden eye which spun loosely in its socket.

"Tell me," she said to them, "Why were the two of you in pursuit of the _Black Pearl_ on that island?"

Pintel stuttered, taken aback by her frankness. "Well we...we..."

"You were thieves," she finished.

"No madam!" he cried defensively. "We committed no thievery! We were only—"

"Salvaging it!" chimed in Ragetti, to which Pintel gave him a harsh glare.

Rose leaned forward threateningly toward them threateningly, "Well, I wouldn't try your 'salvaging' again, lest we lose any more eyes, hmm?"

The men looked at each other in terror. "That's enough!" Jack called back to their boat as they rowed, though he gave Rose a slight, appreciative smile from the corner of his mouth when their eyes met.

The boats were now out of the gentle rocking of the sea and into the steady calm of the bayou waters. The sounds of seagulls were taken over by croaks, splashes, and gentle cooing. They passed the trail Angelica had led Rose down after leaving the first time that had led them to the town.

Over the course of their voyage, as they traveled deeper and deeper into the swampland, the bit Rose enjoyed the most was the expressions of those crew members new to the environment; Seeing the elevated shanties, hearing the gentle strumming of a banjo or the sudden trill of a child's laughter, as if out of nowhere.

Will finally broke the silence in the boat. “Why is Jack afraid of the open ocean?” he asked, looking to anyone in the boat who could provide an answer.

Gibbs spoke up. “Well if you believe such things, there’s a beast that does the bidding of Davy Jones. A fearsome creature with giant tentacles that will suction your face clean off and drag an entire ship down to the crushing darkness. The Kraken.” Rose raised her eyebrows upon hearing this. Jack must have finally let Gibbs in to the threat they now faced. “They say the stench of its breath is…” He shuddered at the thought. “Imagine, the last thing you know on God’s green earth is the roar of the Kraken and the reeking odor of a thousand rotting corpses.” He took a moment to fully imagine these horrors, then said, “If you believe such things.”

“And the key will spare him that?” Will asked.

“That’s the very question Jack wants answered. Bad enough even to go visit her.”

“Her?” Will asked in confusion.

“Aye,” replied Gibbs cryptically.

Rose was about ready to explain to Will who Tia Dalma was, but then realized that all would become clear to him in but a moment, as soon, Jack gave the signal to lift the oars and left the boat coast toward Tia's shack. It was exactly as she had left it. As they approached, Rose stood, eager to go in first. The boat hadn't even stopped at her dock when she leapt out. She ascended and passed her boa snake, ducking under the familiar trinkets hanging from the roof directly into the storage room where she knew she’d be. Sure enough, as Rose pushed through the beaded curtain, there was Tia Dalma, who spun around to greet her. Rose’s grin disappeared however, when she saw Tia Dalma’s shocked expression and stiff demeanor. She stood at an odd angle, and had her hands behind her, making her skirt appear fanned-out.

“Tia, what’s going on?” Rose said.

“Ya do not come alone…”

Rose was uncertain if Tia’s utterance was a question or a declarative statement, so she said in confusion, “Yes? Um…Jack has come with his crew. They seek advice of the supernatural—“ Suddenly, Rose realized that she had jumped to into the middle of conversation. “Oh, I should start off by saying that I found Ja—“

“I know,” quipped Tia Dalma.

 _Of course she knows,_ Rose reasoned. But this odd behavior from Tia was absolutely unheard of. She let her eyes focus on the objects behind Tia Dalma’s skirt that she seemed to be trying to conceal. Before Tia shifted, further concealing this portion of the room, Rose saw caught a glimpse of it...boots, legs, a coat covering a man who was quietly breathing, and a face; A face Rose recognized as the first mate of her brother all those years ago.

 _Barbossa._ Rose’s eyes went wide as she grabbed Tia's shoulders. "What is he DOING here? Alive?" Tia grasped her in return, "Hush!" she ordered, for they both heard footsteps on the deck. The crew was ascending. "You mustn't say a word!”

Footsteps closer still. Rose looked from Barbossa to Tia. This was so wrong. But Tia looked desperate for her discretion. "Alright," she finally whispered.

Tia breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to her table, bent over her collection of crab claws, whispering a sacred chant to them when the door opened and Jack entered. "Jack Sparrooooowww," Tia warmly welcomed him as he entered, followed by Will and the rest of the crew. Rose turned her attention toward Barbossa, asleep. No. Not asleep. His eyes were open, as though frozen, and dead, staring ahead into some horrible vision. His arms were folded across his chest and raised and lowered slowly with each horrible breath.

She looked at this man with hatred. Jack had killed him with his own bullet, he told her so himself. The Aztec curse was broken with Will's blood. How could he be alive? And why was Tia helping to bring him back? But something wasn't right...how could Barbossa look so... _restless_ as he rested? Perhaps this was “zombie-fication" that she had overheard Tia teaching to Anjelica a few years ago. But it seemed like he was fighting an incredible war with himself, like every passing moment was a struggle. His eyes vibrated rapidly from side to side. A part of Rose felt sorry for him, but another part of her thought, _I hope you feel all the anguish of hell, mutineer_. Suddenly, she heard a gunshot. She stood and walked toward the beaded curtain leading to the main room where the crew currently was lingering to see what had happened. Ah. An exhibition of Jack the Monkey's immortality. He brought Jack as payment for Tia's help. She grabbed the cage and released Jack, who came skittering over toward Barbossa, his master, sitting at his feet. Rose continued listening to Jack, the crew, and Tia converse.

“You know of Davy Jones, yes?” Tia was saying. “A man of the sea. A great sailor. Until he run afoul of what vex all men.”

“What vexes all men?” asked Will.

Rose grimaced when she saw Tia turn her charm on Will. “What indeed?” she cooed, leaning towards him.

“The Sea?” Gibbs posited.

Pintel cried out, “Sums!”

“The dichotomy of good and evil!” shouted Ragetti.

Jack rolled his eyes. “A woman.”

Rose cocked her head at this; How did Jack know so much about this story. She had never heard it before.

“A woman,” Tia repeated. “He fell in love.”

“No no no no. I heard it was the sea he fell in love with.”

Tia snapped, “Same story different versions, but all are true. But it was a woman as changing, and harsh and untamable as the sea. Him never stopped loving her. But the pain it caused him was too much to live wit. But not enough to cause him to die.”

“What _exactly_ did he put into the chest?” asked Will. 

Tia smiled. “Him heart.”

“Literally or figuratively?” asked Ragetti.

Pintel scoffed. “He couldn’t literally put his heart in a chest...could he?”

It was not worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings.So, he carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide the chest from the worl'. The key, he keep with him at all times.”

Rose then found herself deep in thought once more, looking back over Barbossa. Jack had never told her that it was Davy Jones’s heart inside the chest. She began to wonder what Jack’s true intentions with Jones’s heart were; Would blackmailing him and convincing him to let Jack keep the _Pearl_ by threatening the heart really work, or did Jack have a more solidified plan in mind? Did Jack want to vanquish Jones for good? Either way, Rose was not pleased upon realizing the amount of secrets Jack had been keeping from her. _Well then,_ she thought. _If he can keep secrets from me, then I can keep a few of my own from him._

Tia then entered the back room. She made eye contact with Rose as she pushed through the beaded curtain, then began searching for something. “I have just the thing,” she muttered. “Now where did I put it? My little beauty where are you? Such a long time in such a mess…” Suddenly, she found it. A jar of dirt that she triumphantly carried back into the main room.

“Davy Jones cannot make port,” she explained. “Cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow. And so you will carry land with you.”

Jack took the jar and look skeptically at it. “Dirt. This is a jar of dirt.”

“Yes.” Tia agreed.

“Is the…jar of dirt going to help?”

“If you don’t want it, give it back.”

Jack suddenly narrowed his eyes and pulled the jar close to him. “No!”

Tia smiled. “Then it helps.”

Will then politely intervened. “It seems…we have a need to find the _Flying Dutchman_.”

At this point, Rose pushed through the curtain back into the main room. Tia was seated at her table, clutching her crab claws and announcing "A touch of _destiny_ ," whilst scattering them over the table. "You are to find a ship. Sail toward the setting of the sun and you find it soon. There, the key can be found."

"Excellent!" Jack said. "I'll just be taking my dirt and we'll be on our merry way then!" he approached Tia and kissed her hand regally.

"Don' forget aboud me, Jack," said she smiling playfully. Jack only gave a coy smile in response. He then turned as the crew began to file out, waiting until Will, the last one in the room, had gone. Tia too had left, as she had developed a strange infatuation with Will and walked him out of her home.

Alone, Jack looked to Rose, who just stood in the center of the room. He whistled to her. “Come, come,” he said. “No time to lose.”

She only looked directly at him, jaw tight with the tension of the secret she now held. No matter if she kept this secret between her and Tia Dalma or let it slip to Jack, she would be betraying one of them. But as she looked into his eyes, she could see that there was no secret at all; Jack knew. She waited for him to say anything, ask her about how Barbossa fared in the room adjacent to them, but he only stared expectantly at her.

Finally, Rose squeaked, “He’s back. But clearly you already knew.”

Jack nodded, lips pursed in silent defeat. “Aye. It was only a matter of time, really.”

“I’m staying here,” Rose then said carefully, though she didn’t fully comprehend his meaning.

Jack’s shoulders fell in defeat. “Rose…” he tried to reason.   
  
“I’ll take care of it,” she said, encoding the true intention of her statement, which was _I’ll make sure Barbossa never comes back for revenge one way or another._

“You’ll lose. There’s no point in fighting this fight. Come back with us.”

Rose tried to drain her voice of all bitterness as she said, “You said you weren’t going to have me aboard until the _Pearl_ was entirely yours. I upset that plan.”

“Rose—“ Jack protested.

“No,” she said gently. “Go. Get her back from Jones. Make her yours again and then come back for me. We’ll assess from there."

Jack pondered this for a moment, then reached down to his belt, untying the her half of the pendant which they both carried. He placed it in her hand. “This one’s yours,” he said. “You’re taking care of it now.” Rose reached around her neck for his half to give back to him. “No,” he said, stopping her progress. “Keep both. When I return for you, I’ll get mine back, savvy?”

The siblings embraced once more and she followed him to the door and listened as he passed Tia once more on his way into the boats and ordered full speed ahead. Rose smiled as she heard Will ask, "Aren't you forgetting Rose?" to which Jack gave an inaudible answer as they sailed away.

Rose stayed in that spot until the little boat disappeared into the mist. She took a deep breath, having just experienced the very worst few days of her life— losing Ben, the sheer exhaustion of spending the day wondering if she was the last crew member still alive, the very fight to stay alive, finding a prison in the form of the ship she once adored, now discovering the one man she despised above all others being nursed back to life. Most of it felt like a distant nightmare she had once dreamt. But a sickening weight in the pit of her stomach knew this was no dream, but a godawful reality. Her brother was in great danger and she had no control over his fate.

“Find him, keep him safe,” Tia’s parting words to her only a few months ago had warned her. A part of Rose felt immense worry that by staying here, she would not be fulfilling the latter half of that prophecy. But when Rose thought of what danger laid inside, she knew what she had to do. Silently, she disappeared back into the shack while Tia’s back was still turned.

Moments later, Tia returned back into the main room to see that Rose wasn’t there. She walked to the back room and frozen when she saw Rose standing with a pillow inches above Barbossa’s face, ready to smother what little life still remained in him.

“Tell me why he’s here, or I _will_ kill him,” Rose hissed.


	13. Powers Unknown

“Rose,” Tia warned. “Put id down.”

Rose only gripped the pillow tighter. “Not until you tell me why you brought Barbossa back. How did Jack know he was back? Explain!”

Tia took a deep breath. “Him be a Pirate Lord of da Seven Seas. Him must come back.”

Rose furrowed her brow. _Pirate Lord._ She knew Jack was the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, and she had head Sah Muhsine mention something about a Pirate Lord in Tripoli…but otherwise her knowledge on the matter was sparse. “Pirate Lord? Barbossa?” she asked.

Tia nodded. “Ammand, Chevalle, Ching, Jocard, Sao Feng, Angria, Villanueva, Barbossa, Sparrow.”

“Sparrow?” Rose whispered. “What are they and why is Jack among them? Why Barbossa for that matter?”

As though hearing his own name, Barbossa at that moment began to convulse. His eyelids began to flutter over his still pulsating eyes, and his body began to tremble ferociously.

Tia rushed to his side, pushing Rose out of the way. She stood over him, her arms outstretched over his writhing form.

Rose’s healer past took over in this moment, and she called out to her mentor, “Which herb?”

“Whad?”

“Which herb do I fetch?”

Tia looked at her gravely. “No herb can fix da dead.” Rose then watched in awe as she saw Tia Dalma perform something she had never seen before. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth opened wide. Words in a language Rose had never heard before emerged from her mouth, though her lips did not form them. It was like the voice was coming from somewhere deep inside of her. The chanting grew louder and more dissonant. Soon Tia’s own arms began to tremble violently. A hazy, white light began to branch out from her palms, producing a sort of radiating energy. This stopped Barbossa’s convulsions, and soon, Tia Dalma worked her hands further and further down towards Barbossa’s chest until they ultimately made contact. Just then, his body jolted one final time, then Tia regained consciousness. The strange occurrence seemed to have drained her energy, and she almost fell backwards upon coming back into her body.

Rose rushed to her side to steady her, but Tia’s gaze was already focused on Barbossa, whose eyes were now glazed over.

“No…” Tia whispered, checking his pulse. “No, no, no…”

After what felt like centuries, Barbossa’s body finally took a staggered inhale of oxygen, and both women let out a sigh of relief. Tia continued checking Barbossa’s pulse, then ran her hand down to his chest, where she quickly recoiled.

“Needle n’ thread. Him wound opened back up.”

Rose rushed to the sewing cabinet and procured the necessary items to stitch him up, as well as a knife, a basin of water and a cloth, and a chair for Tia to sit. Once seated, Tia extended her arms for the thread, but Rose protested. “No, I’ll do it,” she said. “Rest.” She then rushed to Tia’s cabinetry and found enough materials to make her some healing tea. Bringing that back to her, Rose then knelt at Barbossa’s side and began to restitch the bullet hole where Jack had shot and killed him a little over a year ago.

Tia sipped on the tea, taking deep breaths as she began to calm down. Rose worked silently, giving the occasional glance over to her mentor. Finally, she asked, “Would you like to explain to me what just happened?”

Tia said nothing.

“Voo doo?” Rose asked.

“Nay,” Tia finally replied. “None of dis be voo doo.”

Rose looked to her in alarm. “All of this?” she asked, motioning to the room. “They call you the voo doo priestess of the bayou, Tia. What is this if not voo doo?

“Some,” her mentor replied cryptically. “Some dis, some dat. Never all one thing. I be learnin’ id all.”

Rose had finished with the stitches by that time and had cut the thread. As calmly as she could, she placed her hands in her lap and plaintively asked, “What was that, Tia? What did you do to stop…whatever overcame Barbossa? I need to understand.”

Tia took a deep breath and opened her mouth several times to speak, but said nothing. Finally, she decided upon, “The Pirad Lords have commanded da seas for many years. Nine of dem, one for each of da seas. Da most fearsome pirads from around the worl’ convened under the order of Davy Jones. Togedda, using dem object of value, day bound da sea goddess Calypso so dat men could rule da sea for all time. Dey keep these items with dem at all times, and pass ‘em to a successor before them die.”

Rose suddenly began putting pieces of this story together with what she had just heard her tell Will and the crew. “The woman in the story. The woman who broke Jones’s heart…it was Calypso, wasn’t it?”

“Aye.”

Rose sat closer by Tia’s side and looked earnestly into her eyes. Her heart raced in anticipation of her next question as she asked, “Tia…are _you_ Calypso?”

Tia blinked. She returned her gaze, saying evenly, “No. I be but her servant. And for dat, Barbossa must live. As long as she be bound, dere must always be a Brethren Court.”

Rose nodded in understanding, but quietly protested, “You do see how much danger this will cause for Jack, don’t you?”

Tia shook her head sadly. “Dere be no odda way.”

And so, with that, Rose resignedly began aiding Tia Dalma in helping to heal Barbossa. There were no further episodes like Tia’s strange commune with a mystical realm, thankfully, but they now had to ensure that his body was nourished enough to maintain the healing process and that it wasn’t receding back into its natural, lifeless form. Just two days later, his eyes had stopped pulsating and he was able to move and blink them, which greatly disturbed Rose. That afternoon, it was her turn to feed him a broth Tia had concocted, and she was not pleased about it in the slightest.

As she sat at his bedside, she saw his yellow eyes shift to her and narrow.

“Remember me?” she asked. “I’m Jack’s sister. The one you left here all those years ago so you could mutiny against him.” She poured a bit of the bowl down his throat, and as he swallowed, she saw his eyes glow with rage.

“And then you proceeded to kill Bill Turner,” she continued. “And for what? Now my brother has his ship back, and you can’t even eat on your own. You got what you deserved.”

At this, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Barbossa was tensing his right hand into a fist. Rose quickly poured the rest of the broth into his mouth and went to find Tia. He was getting stronger by the minute, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before soon she could not longer have these very satisfying, one-sided conversations anymore.

* * *

Three more nights passed. Their patient could now move his jaw, but could not form words. His legs moved from the knee down and his arms moved from the forearm down, much to the glee of Jack the monkey who could now be pet once again by his master. 

On the fourth night, Rose and Tia sat in the main room by the fireplace. Tia was running her fingers along the rounded chain of the silver music box locket that hung around her neck and was looking pensively into the flames. Rose too was lost in thought, but it was the same thought that had plagued her for a week now. She could no longer ruminate in these thoughts any longer and had to finally ask, “Tia?"

“Mm?”

She took a deep breath and leaned towards her. “When you foretold my destiny, you mentioned that I would marry a dead man."

"Mmm?" Tia croaked again in reply.

"I thought I knew who you meant… Benjamin McHenry, my childhood friend. We found each other again and...my feelings for him grew once more," Rose had to stop here temporarily, lest her tears begin anew. "He had been undead aboard the _Pearl_ , as he too had been cursed, so I figured that—"

"That he be da dead man," Tia finished, her eyes still fixated upon the hearth. "But id was not so. He be not da man I see."

Rose's heart ached. "Now he really _is_ dead. Devoured on a cannibal island. I've lost my friend forever."

She let her tears fall, and Tia took her hand sympathetically. "Him did not love you. Not like you be lovin' him still."

"I know," she said quietly. "I know you speak the truth but...I was so certain I could change him."

"Him is not da broken heart you will mend. Id be da udder man. Ye will fix him heart."

“The… _other_ dead man," Rose huffed. "I still don't know what you mean by that. I can't marry someone who's not alive!"

"You _will_ ," she insisted.

"Answer me this and I will ask no more," Rose whispered gravely. "Will he die when I am in love with him? I can not take it if it's true."

Tia shook her head. "Nay," she replied. "Ye will be broken too when he dies."

Rose's head fell. She had the promise of another love on her horizon, but she would ultimately lose him and be broken hearted. Why then did Tia promise great joy from this union? Rose vowed she would ask no more questions, though still her heart ached for absolution.

“Dat why ya be leavin’ Jack an’ him _Pearl_?” Tia asked. “Ben?”

Rose shook her head. “I don’t know anymore. I was upset with Jack, I was confused at all the many things he kept hidden from me, I was overwhelmed…and then I saw Barbossa and knew I had to do something about him. But I suppose Jack was right. There was no point in me staying here. Bringing Barbossa back was inevitable.”

“When will you return ta him?”

Rose shook her head sadly. “I told Jack to free the _Pearl_ once and for all. No mutinies, no debts to Jones…once she was fully his, I told him to come back for me.”

“Looks like you’ll be waitin’ a long time fer that day,” a haggard voice growled behind them. Rose leapt to her feet and grabbed a nearby dagger in defense, then realized where the source of the sound was coming from.

“The _Black Pearl,_ ” Barbossa sneered, leaning up against a door frame for support, “Shall be mine again.”


	14. Secrets and Lies

The next day, Rose was once again on Barbossa’s meal duty. Begrudgingly, she brought a bowl over to his cot in the side room and held it out to him. “Here.”

Barbossa sneered at the meat inside the bowl. “What is it?”

“Food. Eat.”

He glared up at her. “What sort of meat?”

Unfazed, Rose said in monotone. “Monkey. I finally couldn’t take him anymore. Enjoy.”

Barbossa’s eyes flared in a equal parts shock and rage, and Rose rolled her eyes. “Bloody hell, it’s pork. Eat it.”

He pursed his lips and ruefully snatched the bowl from her. She crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby wall.

“Ya don’t have to keep watch over me, Teague,” Barbossa snapped.

“Oh but I do,” she retorted. “I was given express orders to make sure that you eat the whole thing.”

He merely grumbled something inaudible under his breath, then put the spoon to his mouth and gagged. The effects of the curse were still strong on its crew. For ten years, the men couldn’t eat, sleep, or drink anything, and so, much like Ben, once these features were introduced back into their lives and they _had_ to sustain themselves, their bodies found it difficult to do so after the years of abuse and constant transformation.

“Can’t eat?” Rose snorted. “Maybe you shouldn’t have mutinied, then.”

“And what would _you_ know of it? You’ve spent all of what, the past _year_ aboard the _Pearl?_ ”

“I watched as Benjamin McHenry suffered the same as you suffer now.”

Barbossa scoffed. “McHenry was a deserter, and you a fool.”

“Perhaps, but at least we chose the winning side.”

“Who’s alive and who’s dead, Teague? Look’s like _I’m_ the victor!” he growled, forcing the meat down his own throat with great difficulty.

Rose was seething. “What exactly do you think you’re going to do once you can walk again?”

“Already told ya, lass,” he quipped. “I’ll be taking back what be rightfully mine.”

“And how will you do that without a ship and a crew?”

Barbossa put the bowl down and looked up at her. “Ye…ye haven’t…?” When he saw that she had no idea what he was referring to, he raised his eyebrows and returned his attention back to the bowl. “Hmm. Interestin’.”

“If you honestly think I’m going to let you just walk up and steal the _Pearl_ back from my brother…”

“Oh I _know_ ye will, dear,” he interrupted condescendingly. “And believe me, it won’t be stealin’.”

Just then, Tia entered through the beaded curtain.

“Perfect timing,” Rose said through gritted teeth. “Tia, kindly remove all sharp objects from this room before I kill your patient and you have to bring him back to earth a second time!”

“Heyyyy…” Tia said warningly. “Take a moment away fer a time,” she suggested. She then instructed for Rose to take several crates of items that she had just traded for medical supplies and charms amongst some islanders upstairs in the storage room. Rose happily obliged, eager to be away from the infuriating man who was tormenting her with his snide comments.

Rose sneered upon finding a bushel of green apples that were among the cargo Tia had traded. She had heard Barbossa request these from Tia, but couldn’t believe that she delivered on this demand. She loaded crate by crate upstairs, and just out of spite, hid the apples behind a guinea sack, halfway hoping they’d rot before Barbossa ever found them.

Having completed this task, Rose descended the stairs and made her way closer towards the room to ask Tia if there was anything else she could help with. She stopped dead in her tracks, however, once she heard Tia Dalma say with her voice lowered, “I seen da one whose heart will replace Jones. Ya must help me.”

Rose quickly scurried behind a boudoir and kept her eyes focused upon the doorway through the beaded curtain as she continued to listen. She saw Barbossa limp to and fro across the room, trying to fully regain his ability to walk once more.

“What’s in it fer me?” he asked in response.

“Your life,” Tia replied. “Dat not be enough?”

Barbossa stopped, turning to her with a sly grin. “You need me, don’t forget. I be needin’ a bit more persuasion than that.”

Tia rose and walked slowly towards him. She then grew extremely close to him and wrapped her arm around his neck, smiling seductively. Rose recoiled in horror and was prepared to look away, when Tia all of a sudden laid a hand on the side of Barbossa’s face. Her expression changed, and suddenly, the entire left side of his face transformed back into a the half-rotted skull from his cursed days. “Does dat persuade ya?” Barbossa leapt away from her in horror and wildly ran his hand all over his face once it had transformed back into flesh once more.

Barbossa pursed his lips and finally conceded. “Very well. We have an accord.” He began to pace the room again as he said, “It’s all as well, I s’pose. Jones will die, Jack will take the _Flying Dutchman,_ leaving me room to take the _Black Pearl.”_

Tia just stood there in the middle of the room, her eyes following him as he walked. “Ya know I can’t be promisin’ you Jack’s ship. Da song will sung soon enough, n’ nuddin’ will be as it once was.”

“Surely not,” Barbossa corroborated. “And we have a years-long journey ahead of us yet, I am certain of it. When does this all begin?”

 _“_ By da light of the next moon,” Tia replied.

“Aye. Then there’s no time to lose.”

They then retreated into the back room out of Rose’s earshot, and it was probably for the best; Rose’s head was spinning from all she had just learned. Tia and Barbossa were making a secret pact behind her back. There was some alternate reason why Tia brought him back from the dead. Was Jack really going to take Jones’s place as Captain of the _Flying Dutchman?_ And what was this song they spoke of?

Rose had a long, restless night ahead of her as her mind toiled through all of her unanswered questions. But little did she realize that the worst was yet to come, “by the light of the next moon.”


	15. Fallen Sparrow

The following night was a warm and soundless one in the bayou. Rose had had a rather nice day. Barbossa, seemingly fully recovered, had spent the entire day upstairs in the storage room pouring over charts, which allowed Rose time to herself. She helped out around the shack with various odd jobs until Tia had her begin work on making a large pot full of a drink Rose had never heard of. It was a bizarre mixture of rum, fruit juices, and rose tea, and she was instructed to make enough to fill the largest pot in the shack. _She must be expecting company,_ Rose rationalized as she brewed the mixture. As she finished up and began preparing various cups and bowls to serve the brewed drink in, she heard a strange rhythm coming from outside and went to investigate.

Tia stood at the front doorway, her eyes distant. Rose went to stand next to her in order to see what she was looking at. There, in the waist-high water were about fifty local people with candles in hand, humming to a steady drumbeat produced by one of the chieftains in a nearby cabin.

Rose cocked her head to one side. “A funeral procession? Who passed on? Anyone we know?”

Tia waved off her question instantly. Rose knew something was extremely wrong. After about five minutes of waiting for something different to happen in the crowd, she grew impatient and sat down on the corner of Tia’s desk. There she waited. And waited. Until the humming grew louder. And louder. And louder still. She rose to her feet and went to look outside once more, but Tia spun around to stop her before proceeding onward. She put her hands on Rose’s shoulders, stopping her motion entirely. “Rose,” she said, her voice hardly above an excited whisper. “For whad we want most, there is a price dat must be paid in de end.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Tia, stop talking in riddles.” She tried to sidestep her, but Tia’s grip on her shoulders only increased. “Ye must be brave, Rose. Have faith.”

Just then, Rose saw movement behind Tia’s head. To her great astonishment…it was Joshamee Gibbs!

“Gibbs!” Rose cried, prying herself free from Tia’s grasp, rushing to him. “Back so soon!”

But Gibbs only pursed his lips and let out an exhausted sigh. He wouldn’t look into Rose’s eyes. She would have inquired about this, had it not been for Cotton, Marty, Pintel, and Ragetti’s sudden appearance as well.

“How nice it is to see all of you so soon!” Rose said merrily to them, but the lot of them were just as unresponsive as Gibbs. They just stood in the doorway awkwardly until Tia invited them to make themselves comfortable. Suddenly, an unmistakeable feeling of dread spread through Rose as she read the misery possessed by everyone in the room.

Will then entered, followed by a woman Rose did not know. No…she _did_ know her, just never as she looked now. Her hair had turned yellow from many days of direct sunlight, her skin was tanned and dirty and her eyes full of tears. This was Elizabeth Swann, the woman who had leapt out of the moving carriage that had nearly run over Rose on Port Royal, the woman Will was going to marry. Tia walked briskly past Rose and led Elizabeth to a seat in the room. Rose followed this action briefly, and then looked to Will.

“Will? What’s happened?” she asked. If there was anyone she knew would be direct with her, it was Will. But even he was at a loss for the right words for Rose. But this did not stop her from pressing him for details. “What is going on, why isn’t anyone _speaking_?”

Then it hit her. Someone wasn’t among them. Rose rushed to the doorway, leaning around the edge of the balcony to see if Jack was on his way up, but he was nowhere to be found. His crew just sat there in silence, until Rose, in disbelief, asked, “Where’s Jack?”

When still no response came, panic rose up inside her. “Where is he?" she said sharply. Tia walked up behind her to give her a reassuring touch, but she pulled away from her grasp. ‘No! No, I just want to know where my half-brother is!”

Silence still. Aghast, Rose nearly shouted. “Do any of you hear me? I asked you a _question!_ ANSWER ME!”

Will finally had the courage to approach her, eyes sorrowful. “Rose, please try to understand what I am about to tell you.” He put his hands on her wrists.

But Rose already knew what news he would bring. Deep down, she knew it from the moment she saw Gibbs’s expression towards her upon entering. All the air left her body and her world began to spin. She pulled away from Will and covered her face with her hands. “No!” she cried. _How can this happen? He was my only family. How can this happen?_

Will laid a firm hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but she was inconsolable. “How?” she managed to ask, with quivering lips.

This time Gibbs answered. “Kraken. The bloody creature attacked, and he let us escape, while…”

“RAAAAW! Captain goes down with his ship.” Cotton’s parrot finished. Gibbs nodded. “Yes, that.”

Rose couldn’t contain her anger and sadness. She moved to retreat back up the stairs and into the privacy of her room, but Tia stopped her by grabbing her wrist as she passed. Hot tears poured down her face as Rose turned on her mentor. “You knew the whole time, didn’t you?Why couldn’t you just tell me that this was going to happen?”

Tia’s face was sorrowful, but she wisely said nothing. No words could possibly cure Rose’s broken heart. She watched as Rose ripped her arm free and rushed up the stairs, slamming the door of her room behind her. Tia then quietly retreated back into her supply room to serve the brew to help the crew cope with their grief. She knew exactly what had to come next, and Rose was not a part of the plan. Though it hurt her to see the girl she raised in such pain, there were more important matters than one girl’s heart to attend to.

Rose fell to the ground upon entering her room, where her sobs overtook her. Already a huge void was present in her heart that Jack had once filled. The indestructible figure, the epitome of good fortune and invincibility was gone.

But Rose could not be alone with her grief, for a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Do ye mind?” Barbossa asked, standing near the window. “I can’t hear what’s goin’ on downstairs with yer dramatics.”

Rose was in disbelief and rapidly filling with rage at Barbossa’s cruelty. Voice shaking, she hissed, “Do _I_ mind? My brother is—“

“Dead? Yes, yes, I knew all that.”

Rose stood, wiping her face though the tears continued to fall. “You knew nothing! You simply overheard what happened just a moment ago.”

“Well,” he corrected. “Yer not _wrong,_ but I’ve known this was goin’ to happen for days now.”

“So Tia really did know the whole time...” Rose realized.

“SHH!” Barbossa hushed her, holding up a black-nailed finger toward her and leaning closer to the window. After a moment, he shook his head and looked back toward her. “Yes, she did.”

Rose still was baffled as to why Barbossa cared what was being said beneath where they stood. “What are you doing?”

“I’m waitin’ for me entrance, what does it look like?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “My god, just go down there and let me _be in peace!_ ”

Barbossa tossed aside her plea with a dismissive wave of the hand leaned closer to the window, listening again as a finger tapped against a green apple he held in his palm. Rose began to put it together. “Wait a moment,” she said, “Your entrance! This was all planned. Tia knew Jack was going to die all along, so she brought you back to take his place!”

Barbossa considered this. “Eh. Yer close enough.”

“You both knew this whole time and said NOTHING to me! Why?”

Barbossa gave a sidelong glance at Rose. “Look at yerself, dearie. _That’s_ why.”

Rose was livid. “So I’m not allowed to grieve for my _brother?_ I have no other family, don’t you understand?”

He sneered and put his full attention on Rose. “Why was I saved, ya ask? Think, Miss Teague! Tia Dalma wasn’t just on a generous streak, no! I am the Pirate Lord of the Black Sea. Jack’s the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean!”

Rose could feel her pulse echo in her ears. She didn't understand what he was saying; were they to go find Jack’s body and bring him back just as Barbossa was? If he was devoured by the Kraken, wouldn’t this be rendered an impossibility?

In the silence that followed, Rose and Barbossa heard Tia’s voice coo from downstairs. “Den, ya need a Captain who knows dose waters.”

Barbossa’s eyes gleamed as he left the room. Rose watched as he descended, taking his time to build anticipation for his big reveal. This would be the moment that all of his former enemies would realize that he was no longer deceased. Rose, tears still clinging to her cheeks, froze in horror, realizing that it was now Barbossa, one of her foremost enemies, who now had Jack’s future in his hands.

“So tell me,” he said with a smirk, “What’s become of my ship?”


End file.
